


Black-Gold Concord

by Indigo_Floof



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions, Pocket Monsters: Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon | Pokemon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon Versions
Genre: Better Known as Gladion Aether's A Series Of Unfortunate Events, Canon Divergent, Child Abuse, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, I Tried, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Lonashipping, My Chapters Get Longer Before They Get Better, Original PokéScience Theories ft. Colress & Grimsley, major angst, major sibling bonding, might have mentions of attempted suicide?, moon's real name is Selene in this, mostly gladion introspecting, some haulillie if u squint, someone hug this boi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2020-07-21 09:47:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19999918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Indigo_Floof/pseuds/Indigo_Floof
Summary: Ten times Gladion held back his inevitable emotional breakdown, and the one time he finally didn't.





	1. Prologue

_**break down**_ _[verb]_

  * _To stop functioning or working properly._
  * _To lose control of one's emotions while upset._



The book snapped shut.

The blond young man who had been reading it placed the large volume on the table. He sighed- it was rare for him to act so impulsively because of such small things now. His back began to hurt a bit from the slouching as he leant forward then back onto the couch.

"Rrrii," the chimera nearby trilled impatiently, clicking her beak and adjusting herself in a small, fluffy pink bean bag. "Sorry, Silv," the man said, placing both his feet nonchalantly on the Pokémon's body. However, the latter had other plans, getting up and walking over to the massive bookshelves in the Aether Library and disappearing for a few minutes. Soon after, she returned with another book in her beak, sitting on the floor and looking at him. Her Trainer accepted it, looking over the title.

" _The Secret Garden_? Isn't that, like, a children's book?" 

" _Rrriiiiiiiiiiiiiii-"_

"Okay, fine!"

He did actually like the book; it had reminded him of what Aether was: a blooming paradise for life, and eerily similar to the novel, it had later been left to rot after its caretaker's demise. The happy ending helped ease his emotions towards the whole thing, as well as the knowledge that the organization was once again at the height of its splendour and benevolence. The man then flipped to the first page of the book. _From Mohn, to Gladion and Lillie._

Gladion put the book down next to the dictionary carefully. Looking down at the Synthetic Pokémon, he smiled, patting her on the head. "Thanks, girl. It helped."

The latter narrowed her eyes at him and clicked her beak again as if saying, _Good to know it didn't bring up any bad memories. Oh, and next time, please read proper books instead of dictionaries._

"Will do, buddy," Gladion smiled, but it faded as soon as it appeared. _To lose control of one's emotions while upset. **To break down.**_

His thoughts wandered off to a time when he was much more afraid of that phrase than he let on. And how it affected him- and the ones close to him. Actually, it was many times, wasn't it? And weren't they connected to so many people and Pokémon? And to top it all off, looking around himself-

The book in his hand. Aether Paradise. **_Mohn._**

His past. His demon. **_Lusamine._**

He looked down **. _Silvally._**

The Aether Library. **_Wicke._**

His new black wristwatch. **_Guzma. Plumeria._**

His Z-Ring. **_Moon.._**

Silvally's bean bag. **_Hau._**

His amulet, holding a Key Stone **. _Anabel. Looker._**

Him even still being here. **_Lillie._**

As he remembered, he had but one prominent thought. 

_Arceus really had it for him this time._


	2. Poppy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poppies have long since symbolised sleep and death;  
> Sleep, since its extracts have been used in sedatives,  
> And death, because if its blood-red colour.

The first time, arguably, is the worst time, as it's where it all started.

Gladion remembered the day being sunny, a very normal occurrence in Alola. He still hadn't gotten used to the heat, having just moved from Kalos. The Foundation was livelier than usual; even the employees were clearly excited as that day was truly special.

"What're you making for Daddy's birthday?" Lillie asked, her small hands on his study table in his room, noticing how empty it was. "I don't know," her brother replied, exasperated. "I know I can't make all those fancy science models like Faba does, and even if I had to take his help to make a model to give it to Dad, I'd want to make his gift myself."

Lillie remained silent for a while, but then she walked out and into her room, just next to Gladion's, and came back with a tube of something pink and sparkly. "How about glitter cards?" she suggested. Gladion opened his mouth, but Lillie continued. "I know Daddy likes science and all, but the thing about a gift is that you have to make it with all your heart and a sincere soul for the other person to truly appreciate it."

The older boy gaped at her for a few seconds. "Arceus, Lillie, where did you get _that_ from?" 

It was Lillie's turn to look away. "U-um, me and Mommy were watching _Rosa's Fantasia_ yesterday, and that's the part where she tells Nate that she..uh.."

"She what?" Gladion asked, absorbing every word.

"N-Nothing! I forgot!" Lillie squeaked. "Anyway, let's make Daddy the best glitter cards! This is the last one I have left, though, but after we're done, we can make the muffins, too. Wicke left the batter in the kitchen." Her sibling chuckled. "Then let's get on to it."

Whilst they were baking the birthday muffins, they both failed to notice WIcke running out of the mansion and into the main building, tears in her eyes and a phone in her hand.

************************************************************

The day turned cloudy.

Lillie carefully arranged the muffins on the tray while Gladion iced them with creamy chocolate frosting and sprinkles. They had also put up decorations and put the final touches on their cards while the cakes were in the oven. "What's the time?" Gladion inquired. "Dad will come home at around 7:00 p.m., or at least that's what Mom told us."

"It's 6:45," Lillie answered, squinting at the clock. "Mommy's supposed to be home by now."

"And.....where's Wicke...?" he piped up, just the tiniest bit concerned. The plan was for all of them to gather at the mansion by 6:30 and to surprise their father by 7:00 when he came back. "Maybe Daddy's in another meeting and he's late. That would explain Mommy not being here too," Lillie offered, trying to calm him and herself down. "Yeah," Gladion replied. "Maybe. Let's keep waiting."

A full hour passed, and there was no sign of Mohn, Lusamine or Wicke. Gladion and Lillie were now _very_ concerned. "Maybe we should go out and sear-"

The lights went out.

All was silent.

~~Too silent.~~

**_"VENOOOMEEEEEEEEEEEN!!"_ **

It was like something purely out of a horror movie: suddenly there were dozens of glowing, translucent, pale blue jellyfish-like Pokémon floating all around them in the darkness, literally flickering in and out of view, shrieking loudly and slowly inching closer and closer to the two.

Lillie screamed, clutching onto Gladion as he struggled to keep himself from screaming as well, covering his mouth with his hand and biting it. He was crying too, holding Lillie to shield her and he was shaking like a leaf in a storm, as one of the Pokémon- the largest one- reached out one of its long, glassy tentacles to grab them, ever so slowly; the others were closing in on them too, joining their leader, _about to seize them-_

A sharp crack resounded in the distance, almost like thunder, and the creatures all let out an ear-piercing screech before they vanished into thin air. The lights flickered and came back on, revealing the living room of the mansion once more; it was left untouched, except for a few pale violet-and-black puddles of slime on the floor.

Lillie fell to her knees, Gladion following suit as she violently sobbed into his chest, holding him so tightly her knuckles were turning white; her brother could merely hug her back and tremble. Both the children's hearts were pounding out of their chests- they had both suffered a terrible fright. Another wailing sound in the distance did nothing to calm their anxiety. As the older sibling, Gladion pushed his shock down for Lillie's sake. He _had_ to be stronger than this! "T-The alarm..!"

Acting as quickly as possible, he led his little sister out of the mansion, not daring to let go of her hand.

****************************************************************

They nearly ran into Wicke in the Conservation Area. "C-children! What are you-"

"Where's Mommy and Daddy?!" Lillie pleaded, already so rattled from earlier."We think something bad's happened to them!"

Wicke's response died out, and she sucked in a deep breath as her face contorted oddly. "Your mother.......is alright. She's in the hospital wing." Lillie let out a relieved gasp, but Gladion was far from placated. "What about Dad?"

Once again, silence. Wicke opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Instead, she choked on a sob herself,

And Gladion felt a stab in his chest.

And he knew.

He **_instantly_** knew.

He heard Lillie's frantic pleading and Wicke crying and he could perfectly understand what had happened. "Dad's gone, isn't he?"

_( ~~ **He hates how timid, how scared his voice sounds.)**~~_

~~"~~ W-What?! Gone? What's happened..." Lillie wept. And finally, tearfully, Wicke spoke.

"Yes. Your father, President Mohn........passed away in an accident an hour ago."

*******************************************************************

The funeral is too quiet- barely anybody cries for their father besides Lillie, Wicke and their mother.

There was no body to bury. Apparently, he had disappeared forever into a crack in the sky, into another dimension entirely, dragged by an unknown creature into its depths. So instead they erected a memorial for him on his native island, Poni. He was one of the Alolan Seafolk, always so dedicated to saving Pokémon, and to science and travel, before his travels took him to Kalos and to their mother. The memorial stood among the wild marshes and plains of the island. Wicke commented wanly on how he'd like it. 

Poor Lillie cried and cried till she had no tears left, clinging to her brother as he was the only available source of comfort. As for their mother, she looked lost and heartbroken. She hadn't even spoken a word to them ever since she'd been discharged from the hospital. Even now, she stared blankly at the carved stone and the epitaph as she placed a bouquet of poppies-his favourite flowers- at its base. 

Oddly enough, Gladion didn't cry at all during the funeral either, simply staring into the void, much like his mother. All he could do was hold onto Lillie and clear his mind of any fear or shock or sadness. The incident from before rankled in his mind. He had to be strong now. No excuses. Father was gone. Now he had to protect Lillie. _No matter what._

He remembered the next day being sunny, the heat achingly merciless and ominous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: *planning the next chapter with more angst*
> 
> inner me: ah shit, here we go again
> 
> From now on, I'll most likely be uploading new chapters on weekends. Thanks for reading:D
> 
> seriously though, i still wonder why GF didn't expand on Mohn's story in the games even tho they had the chance (i mean he's responsible for THE WHOLE PLOT)  
> anyway both the anime and manga are doing this so i'm happy


	3. Garden Balsam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Also known under the scientific name "Impatiens balsamina", Garden Balsam is traditionally used as a herbal remedy for poisons or similar ailments. If cultivated improperly, it can become invasive as a species.

Lillie had long since moved on from the incident. It had been four and a half months, after all, and now, even if she looked at one of their family photos, she wouldn't tear up anymore.

That is, if there were any more photos.

Their mother had confiscated literally every single photo, memento, and item of their father's, and solemnly refused to speak to them at all, let alone where exactly she had kept what she'd taken. Of course, both the children had noticed how oddly she was behaving; when Wicke brought them to the mansion, they talked about their father, as Lillie recalled the funeral, and how painfully and tightly Mommy had grabbed and pulled away her small hand when she had lingered at the memorial for just a bit too long. They noticed how reclusive, how transient she had become in their lives. Now, they were mostly left inside the mansion for most of every day, left to their own devices.

Neither Gladion nor Lillie complained- they now had a bit too much free time on their hands- but they missed their mother's presence, and their father's presence too. Wicke was kind and sweet, and very much like a parent too, but it just wasn't enough. Even though she took care of them for most of the time now, she had her own responsibilities, as Aether's Assistant Branch Chief, to attend to. 

And finally, a long-awaited day arrived. On a mild, calm evening in the month of April, in the Conservation Area just past visiting hours, Lillie had worn her best pink dress and laughed and pranced as her brother sang birthday songs for her and her caretaker gifted her a cute little new companion: a tiny Cleffa, who immediately saw the little girl as her new family. As the birthday girl skipped toward the mansion at dusk, Gladion lagged behind her, thinking about how it would have been more fun if their mother was there too, not just holed up in the Foundation-

_Tap. Tap. Tap. The sound of his mother's heels._

_Speaking of Giratina_ , he thought, his features breaking into a huge grin, and turning around to tell his mother about the _huge_ celebration they'd have later on. "Mo-"

**And being met with a _cold, impassive_ stare.**

He froze, looking up at her, and she looked down at him in kind, no, looking right _through_ him, as if searching him, questioning him internally on what he was going to say. Gladion was about to open his mouth when Lusamine beat him to it, clicking her tongue in disappointment and looking up again, sharply cutting him off. He followed her gaze- it was directed at Lillie and Wicke and Lillie's Cleffa, all so happy, and as he looked at her again, he saw it. He finally recognised her. 

It was the same look she had stared at _his_ grave with. The same lost, tortured look, but there was something else. _Anger_ , he realised, as the cold chill of early night slipped painfully down his spine. 

He was too shocked, too trapped in his thoughts, and too caught up in finding his voice to notice Wicke entering his peripheral vision and approaching Lusamine, who ushered her over to the elevator and towards the top floors. Just before she left, for a split second, she looked at him again, as if she knew he had realised this, realised that he knew what was going on. It was a look that conveyed that she knew all of his secrets laid bare. That she knew exactly how much the presence of this _new 'her'_ had scared him.

That night, he'd tucked Lillie in, and in a fit of just the tiniest bit of insecurity, he'd climbed in with her. When she asked why, he'd simply replied that he didn't want to be alone. It was a half-truth; he actually didn't want to be alone with that horrific stare invading every corner of his mind.

Days later, while looking at the various piano sheets in his music book, he'd briefly heard Wicke's voice guiding him about how to play the keys with the right softness and tempo, and how to blend the notes in together using various strokes....but her hand, which pointed out the notes where he needed to improvise, was missing. It had just been a figment of his own imagination now, even though it used to be part of his normal routine. And that's when Gladion realised that Wicke had stopped coming to the mansion entirely.

************************************************************

Days more passed, and the children found themselves spending most of their time with each other than anyone else, except Lillie's Cleffa, Pinky, now that even Wicke wasn't around anymore.

"Let's go talk to Mommy," Lillie finally said. "I'm gonna ask her why she isn't letting WIcke come visit anymore."

Gladion only opted to reply to her second statement. "She's not _allowing_ Wicke here anymore? I thought she was too busy." It was a tiny hunch, but he thought that, maybe, just maybe Mom had stopped Wicke from coming because she'd given Pinky to Lillie as a gift. Their mother had always liked cute Pokémon- actually, she liked cute things in general- maybe she was jealous? It did sound like a very childish thing for him to assume she'd do, but then again, it was just a hunch. However, when he thought of Lusamine's cold, dark glare, and instantly considered thinking this over.

"Gladi?" she called, waving her hand in front of his face. "Are you okay?" 

"Yeah, I'm fine, Lil. I was just....thinking."

"About what?"

He sighed. _Time to let the Meowth out of the bag._ "About if Mom even wants to see us. I mean, she's only barely talked to us at all since....since Dad left us. I know she's doing all this because she's still upset about what happened, but, for the past three weeks, she hasn't even come home..."

"I know, but she's probably lonely and needs some talking to. And we don't even know if she's eating properly or if she's even left her office," Lillie answered softly. "She's our mother, Gladi. Of course she'd want to see us, especially if she's just upset is all. We could cheer her up." She stretched out her hand. "Pretty please? With an Alcremie on top?" 

At first, Gladion wanted to back out and let her do all the talking she needed, by herself, but his chest twisted painfully upon seeing the pleading look in her eyes. It reminded him of the incident that had happened months ago in their home. It had reminded him of his promise. His promise to face his fears. He simply couldn't be scared of such a small thing as this. It could've all been, again, a figment of his twisted imagination. She was their mother, for Arceus's sake! She was nice and kind, and she could never in a million years be scarier than those glowing blue Frillish-like Pokémon.

He took Lillie's hand as she pulled him up. "Okay. Let's go."

**************************************************************

Lusamine's office as the newly-appointed President and CEO of the Aether Foundation was on the topmost floor of the main building. With Wicke's permission and her fingerprint access, she sent them there as they were zoomed up in the Aether Elevator. They saw glimpses of every floor, each strictly dedicated to research, experiments and even business, as well as their second favourite floor: the botanical garden. 

Finally, they reached the top floor, the wide-framed windows showing them the open view of the Alolan archipelago on the left and the horizon on the right. Pinky hopped out of Lillie's arms and bounced on the carpet-covered floor of the lobby, enjoying the view and even appearing to converse with a wild Wingull, as Lillie waved to a wild Cutiefly as well. It briefly warmed Gladion's heart, distracting him from his thoughts about how their talk could play out.

They reached a tall, lofty door with a gold plaque and the Aether Foundation's insignia, and hesitating for just a moment, Gladion opened the door.

Lillie was right. Their mother looked like a mess.

Her normally straight and impeccable posture was replaced by a more slightly hunched over look, and she had heavy bags under her eyes, which were red around the edges, and she looked very thin. Some strands of her hair were out of place. It alarmed her children immensely as Lillie immediately cried out, "M-Mommy?! W-What's happened to you? Are you sick?!" Forgetting about earlier, Gladion too was overtaken with shock at her disheveled appearance.

Lusamine didn't speak. She simply evened out yet another stack of papers against her desk and smoothened out the edges, ignoring them both as if they weren't even there. It shook them both even more. "Mom, please! Please just talk to us for once! Let us help you!" Gladion begged, "If you're sick, we can tell-"

"Just be quiet, you two. You're giving me even more of a headache than I already have."

Gladion's voice died out immediately, as Lillie choked and stammered in shock as their mother stood up abruptly and walked toward both of them, leaning down to their height. "W-What..? Mommy, w-we j-just...."

Lusamine responded by placing a hand on her daughter's mouth, her eyes narrowing. "How many times must I repeat the same sentence to you? Both of you. Leave. Me. _Alone_. I have work to do. Do you _really_ have no other business than to bother me at such a _vulnerable_ time?!" She angrily snarled the last sentence, as she ranted on and on, spewing insults at the two. Lillie's face contorted, clearly trying not to cry.

And Gladion wondered where he was in all of this. He'd made a promise, a promise he was clearly failing to keep, as his tears made their way down his cheeks as well, too scared to act or think clearly. He thought, maybe he could, if only he could stop being such an awful coward. He swore! To _himself_! He promised that Lillie would never experience that kind of horror! And yet here he was, too Arceus-be-damned- _silent_ to even act on what was happening. _This is wrong I know it's wrong but I can't do anything I can't_ **-** **That attitude was wrong!**

_And yet_

_Why was he not doing anything?_

_Because he was guilty too_

_That's why._

He was guilty of watching from the sidelines, not even bothering to know the basic details, as his father was lost, and now, his mother was going to be lost, too, if this continued. All because he'd seen that _glare_ ; he'd subconsciously guessed what would be in store for them if they dared to interfere. _That_ was it.

"Leave now," Lusamine continued her tirade, her voice now raspy. "I've already told you a billion times now. I'm very busy with some important work and I cannot afford any distractions." She pinched the space between her eyebrows. "Be **good** children and leave your mother in peace."

Quickly grabbing Lillie's hand and pulling her out, Gladion tried to stop her from continuing the conversation in the state she was in- all teary-eyed and shaken up. Pinky, who had also been silent throughout, now hugged her owner's ankle as she pulled the Pokemon into a hug, Pinky trying to wipe away Lillie's tears as she leaned her forehead into her brother's shoulder. "I'm sorry...I...I'm just...worried..! Mommy's never acted like this before...!"

_Worried?_

Gladion froze in his tracks. They were her children, weren't they? All children worried about their parents, just like their parents did for them. _But all I feel is anger_ , he thought. He closed his eyes and resigned himself to the ache in his chest. At least he was deviating from his cowardly old self a bit. It was a start. "Hey," he whispered, patting Lillie's head gently, trying to compensate for what she had just been through. "Let's go to the Conservation Area for now, and try again later when we know that Mom's not busy, alright?" he offered. Lillie swallowed and dried her tears, nodded, and followed.

They ended up trying at least three more times, each time yielding more and more scoldings and less results for both Gladion and Lillie. It was slowly building the older sibling's turbulent emotions towards the whole thing, especially his anger. Lillie was the opposite- she just lost more hope with each tear shed. 

**********************************************************

One day, Gladion had been in the botanical garden, casually examining a bush of red spider lilies when he heard his sister shouting. "Gladion!" She sounded panicked as she ran towards him, green eyes wide in alarm. "Lil? What's wrong?" he asked, facing her. "I-I can't find Pinky anywhere! I searched the Conservation Area, the rest of the floors, even Mommy's office, because it was empty," she explained. "Did you see her?"

"No," the older boy replied. "But she can't be anywhere outside the Paradise, it's in the middle of the sea. She can't be with all the Pokémon that were going to be released- Mr. Faba knows that she belongs to you. Did you check at home?" She shook her head. "Let's go and search there, then."

They raced to the mansion and searched, but in vain; the Cleffa was nowhere to be found. "I don't know where she could've gone!" she sobbed. "I'm just scared that she-"

The door burst open, revealing their mother's now ominous shadow in the doorway, her heels clacking against the tile floor. "Lillie. Gladion."

This time, her voice was as sweet as honey. Her hair was different. Instead of its normal braided style, she had cut it in a very straight, almost perfect sheet with no hair out of place, and she now wore a bright golden dress adorned with green jewels. Her eyes were no longer red or sleep-deprived. She looked healthy in every sense of the word. Something was _very_ wrong. "I've got some good news! You won't have to take care of that Cleffa anymore, child. I've had her sent away. _Permanently_." 

"What?! Why-"

"Because-," she said patronisingly, "-you cannot take care of her. You both were irresponsible and lost her, and guess where exactly she ended up: _in my conference room right in the middle of something extremely important!_ Do you know how _embarrassed_ I was? You could've ruined Aether's _entire reputation_ , and desecrated your father's goodwill!"

"M-mommy-"

"Mom-!"

**_"No."_ **

They both froze. Her voice became even sweeter.

"Those terms are much too informal. How about _'Mother'_? It works better, doesn't it?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah so just so you guys know the info in the chapter summary about the flowers is 100% genuine (from wikipedia, i know im hopeless)  
> but the thing is lusamine was named after this flower and it is used to cure poison  
> plus its scientific name literally starts with "impatiens" why game freak why
> 
> *nanu voice* y'all know where this is going, look forward to it i guess  
> a big thanks to all of you for reading:)


	4. Null and Void

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "See, their morals, their 'code'...it's a bad joke, dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you: when the chips are down, these, ah, 'civilised people'? They'll eat each other."

It had been exactly eight months, nine weeks and three days since Lusamine had changed. 

_She used to be a very placid person,_ Gladion thought. Placid certainly was the word for it. She was clear and undisturbed and had her own sense of aesthetic, ethereal perfect, like a crystalline pool of whitewater, until their father's disappearance had thrown the stone of loss into it and created the ever-fervent ripples of fury.

But Lusamine's pool was quite deep. The ripples of fury continued as long as the stone was still sinking; when it hit rock bottom, the ripples stopped. The fury would then look curbed to other people; they were blissfully unaware of the stone that still lay inside, the stone that would eventually disturb the very depths of her mind. _She is placid_ , Gladion thought, _only on the outside._

"Young Master?"

"Coming," he replied, getting up from the edge of the aquarium and putting the pebbles back on the ground. Following Wicke, he stepped on the elevator and was lowered down to the entrance floor, walking to the mansion with a deliberately heavy gait. Wicke looked like she was about to say something, but closed her mouth when he turned around and said goodbye, the heavy bags under his eyes unnerving her. "Young Master, I would like to wish you a.....a very happy birthday," she whispered, wringing her hands.

"Thank you, Miss Wicke," he answered simply, turning away. "Please take care of yourself. Mr.Faba is in a bad mood and will probably demote anyone who makes him angrier." 

Wicke staggered and left quietly after a few minutes of silence.

"Gladion," Lusamine greeted, her heels clacking impatiently. "It's unbecoming to be late to a celebration, much less your own birthday." She took a few steps forward. "So you know what this means-there will be a time-out for you. Go to your room and study."

Looking around the room, Gladion saw that it was eerily bare, with no decoration whatsoever, just a small cake on the table with a few plates and cutlery beside it. Seated at the table was Lillie, looking wistfully at the cake and trying her best to stay quiet throughout the exchange. "Mother? What about the celebration?" she asked, her voice achingly small. Lusamine didn't even look at her, keeping her glare focused on her son. "Your brother decided to be an _irresponsible, selfish_ boy and came late for his own celebration, which shows how _little_ he cares for it. It shouldn't bother him if it were to be _cancelled_ , you see." She then turned around. "And neither should you. You've already eaten your breakfast and you're not supposed to overeat, unless you want to become a fat and _ugly_ little girl. Now go outside and play."

"Yes, Mother," she replied softly, hesitantly, keeping her eyes on the floor as she did. It physically pained him to see her like this, as delicate and moulded as stained glass, each fragment perfectly coloured and fitted in to suit their mother's tastes. Lusamine once again clicked her heels against the floor, grabbing his arm and leading him upstairs and into his room. As her fingernails dug into his sleeve, he cried out, silenced by her hiss. "Little boys don't cry. They assert themselves and they have to be strong and capable. You're stronger than this, Gladion. Stop crying. One day I won't be there to guide you when you become President. I won't point out all your silly mistakes for you."

"It's-my- _birthday_ ," he tried to reason in between breaths, but then suddenly, he felt a sharp, dizzying pain across his face and saw bright blinky static clouding his vision.

"And guess who _cares_ about that? You have far more important things to do," she said, shoving him into his room and slamming the door, but he could still hear her rambling as she walked away.

"It's nothing but the day you were born. A thing of the past. You must look towards the future, towards the day you're going to be the Aether Foundation's President! You're going to hold your father's name up with pride and strength! _Our_ family's name!"

**************************************************

"I'm sorry about earlier," Lillie mumbled, her head on his shoulder as he played the piano, his fingers practically flying across the keys now. Their mother's training had drilled almost six piano grades' worth of skill into him, for a mere nine-year-old. "For what?"

"For.....not doing anything, I guess. I know Mother's being harsh on you because you're older and you're gonna be President when you grow up," she admitted, staring out at the vast blue horizon through one of the massive windows just to her left.

He stopped playing, his hands now in his lap. Lillie took one of them in her small ones, examining the ink stains and paper cuts from all the studying he'd been doing. "But you don't have to be President alone. I can help you. We can both be President at the same time. It's like when you get tired, I can take charge, and you can take over after I'm done."

She's only seven, and she looked so worn and kind, and Gladion felt that pain in his chest again. "Like what Mr.Faba and Miss Wicke do, huh?" he mused. "That would be...nice, but then if you say that in front of Mother, she'll make you study all day too."

"At least I don't have to go through her routine of being more, well, 'perfect' and 'ladylike'," his sister shuddered, pulling her long white frock up to reveal white stockings and shoes with slightly raised, thin heels and baby blue bows as decorations. "Doesn't it hurt to walk in those?"

"Sometimes, when I run and twist my ankle a bit. And I like the colours, but I just don't wanna wear frocks all the time and be called baby pet names like 'My Little Darling Princess' and 'My Sweet Little Nihilego', whatever that means-"

_"What did you say?"_ Gladion almost yelled, a sharp feeling in his gut. He had heard that name somewhere. Somewhere he normally wouldn't like to hear things like this.

"U-um....Nihilego..?" Lillie repeated, slightly alarmed. "W-Wait, Gladi, where are you going?!"

"To the labs on the lower floors, I'll be back in a while. I just wanna check on something..."

***************************************************

He reached the lower level floors and immediately headed for the labs to his right, placing his palm on the scanner before a white light flashed under it, which instantly turned red, denying him access. Making a mental note to ask Wicke to save his handprint in the scanner, he punched in the passcode and entered, heading for one of the rooms, reaching a door with a plaque that read 'LAB C'. Opening the door, he walked in, observing a strange dark blue and gold PokéBall that he had never seen before, as well as a few articles on a desk labeled 'Ultra Space' and 'Ultra Megalopolis'.

Walking over to the computer area, he tried each of the five systems present, but they needed a password, so he tried each one, finally finding a system without a password; it appeared to be the least-used one. Logging in under the user 'Employee' he immediately moved the system onto Private Network whilst shutting off the webcam _(Thanks a lot, Mr.Faba)._ Seeing Aether's files saved in it, he moved on a file named 'PROJECT UB', and lo and behold, it had a folder named 'Nihilego' in it.

Clicking on it, he nearly got a heart attack. It was the same ghastly jellyfish-like creature they had seen that night in the mansion. The one that nearly took them away like it took their father. Briefly, he imagined his mother dressing up his sister to look like an alien creature and laughing merrily. As he read more and more about these Ultra Beasts, he began to panic.

That time, Mr.Faba had believed that they were simply making up stories. Miss Wicke wasn't convinced, but she at least trusted in them. However, now that he thought about it, their mother had acted strangely. _"Did they really come here?" Lusamine had asked, pointing at the clean tiles where there once had been purple slime, vanished without a trace._

_"Yes," Lillie answered. "They looked like some kind of freaky Pokémon."_

_"Pokémon, you say?"_

And...only recently-

_"Gladion, if you are to continue your studies in running the Foundation, then you will have to know about a very important topic. It will be one of the Foundation's priorities in the future. About the conservation of Pokémon from other worlds, called Ultra Beasts."_

Flipping through the files, he recognised many other names such as 'UB-Beauty, Pheromosa' and 'UB-Absorption, Buzzwole' and 'UB-Blade, Kartana'. He then hovered over a page, simply labeled 'Cosmog', about to open it, when-

**_"RIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGHHH!!!"_ **

**_"GET IT ON! GET IT ON NOW BEFORE IT DESTROYS EVERYTHING!!"_ **

He immediately logged out and bolted out the door, running to the source of the noise. It was a sound like an animalistic scream and iron clanging, coming from Secret Lab A. He ran to it and silently opened the door, his heart pounding, and _what he saw-_

It was a Pokémon, bruised up and bleeding in some places, and it appeared to be a chimera- it had a strange silvery head with a large crest and feathery mane, and a dark brown body with green birdlike front legs and canine back legs with purple bands, as well as a fish's tail. The scientists were restraining it with metal chains as they held it down with their combined body weight. This seemed to be a small hindrance to the Pokémon, who merely shook the scientists off violently and continued to repeatedly bang its head on the floor, causing itself to bleed even more. Gladion wanted to rush forward, to stop the poor thing from hurting itself, but his legs wouldn't move, staying firmly rooted at the doorway. And that's when he noticed his mother was there too, simply standing like a robot and watching the whole spectacle unfold. 

And then the most horrifying thing happened.

Faba called out his Hypno, which used Psychic and immobilised the chimera Pokémon, and it _wailed,_ a bloodcurdling sound that made tears come to his eyes, and Faba himself walked forward with a coppery, heavy looking metal mask with spikes on the side and brutally thrust it onto the Pokémon's head. A few scientists joined him and adjusted the spikes on the side and used the extra hook left to seal up the feathery crest as it thrashed and cried. The Hypno released its hold on the Pokémon as it collapsed to the floor, crying as the next bang on the floor to free itself only knocked it out.

And Lusamine just said, "What a failure."

_Failure?_ That was a living, breathing, injured Pokémon! And they were treating it like a _machine_ without feelings! This was the opposite of what the Aether Foundation was supposed to do! Their father's mission was to save and help them, not to hurt them like this! And Gladion actually thought that Faba was decent. Maybe a little too pompous, but decent enough to treat Pokémon nicely and humanely, and now he knew that he was helping his mother torture that poor thing behind the scenes. 

He didn't know how he got into one of the other empty labs, but there he was. He sank to his knees in a dark corner. If anyone was a failure, it would be him. Once again, he was being a coward. He hadn't lifted a finger as they imprisoned that Pokémon. He just stood and watched, just like his mother had. And he was convinced that if this whole charade continued, he would end up just like her. Lillie and that Pokémon would still be tormented, but by him instead of their mother. And he refused to see that happen. He would get that Pokémon to be treated respectfully and nicely, not brutalised like it just had been.

After all the scientists and his mother had left, Gladion quietly snuck into Secret Lab A, sitting at one of the computers- _Faba's_ PC- and switched it on to find a file named 'Type:Null' opened already, and as he read it, he grew more and more horrified to find out that it had been created out of mixed Pokémon DNA to fight the Ultra Beasts, and experimented upon, only to be coined a failure on testing its supposed ability to change types; it was actually the third and last one to face this fate. And the last bit- about cryogenically freezing it for the rest of eternity- that meant..that it would be frozen in a block of ice forever. The news felt unreal to him, so condemnable and hated that he straight up deleted the files and angrily punched the side of the wall, screaming like Type:Null had when it had been put in so much pain...

***********************************************************

"What's gotten into you?" Lusamine snarled, dragging him by the shirt collar into her room at the mansion. It was 9:00 p.m., and he was very late for dinner, owing to sorting out the whole mess with Type:Null. Lillie watched, wide-eyed, as their mother yelled at him and even slapped him across the face, scolding him for being selfish and just because it was his birthday it didn't mean he could skip studies or do whatever he wanted wherever he wanted to. And for the first time, he'd talked back. It wasn't even a shout. Just a whisper of a snide comment, and it had led to _this_. 

"What's made you so rebellious, you brat?!" she hissed.

And that's when Gladion made the worst decision in his life.

"What you and the others were doing to Type:Null earlier."

Lusamine's expression contorted in an almost satanic way, then it returned to normal, but there was still a murderous glint in her eyes.The next time she spoke, it was unstable and strained. "Do you really think that _that's_ the worst you've seen, my _dear_ boy?"

She violently turned around, walking to the mirror and reaching behind it to press a switch behind it. The reflective panel folded back, instantly giving way to a platform with a shining tile on it. Turning to see him, she beckoned him toward the tile as she stepped on it and vanished, with him following closely. And he reached a strange room. In the darkness, he saw Lusamine's silhouette among various shining cases of glass. And then the lights switched on.

The cases were not empty.

They held the bodies of Pokémon, many of them, probably dozens at this point. Gladion's eyes landed on a small case near Lusamine and saw the frozen body of a Pokémon he had known not but too long ago. "P-Pinky....?! N-No! W-What is this?!" he screamed.

"Don't you see?" Lusamine smiled. "It's my private collection."

"This is horrible! You're sick-"

Lusamine lunged forward and grabbed his left hand, effectively cutting him off with her dark stare once more. It was the same as before-except there was something new. Her eyes, which were normally unblinking and still, were unfocused and terrifying. "I'm. Your. MOTHER!" she screeched. She pulled his shirt sleeve up, showing the thin, pale skin underneath as she pulled out a glass rod from one of the cases. "You will respect me! You will not defy anything I say! And from now on-" she continued, "-you will never speak of this again!"

And she swung as the blow connected and it rained _again_ , and _again_ , and _again_ , and it was _**agony**_.

The depths of the pool had yielded. The stone that had been thrown in was not a stone- it was an egg, an egg that hatched into a venomous glass serpent and burst out of the water, turning it into deadly poison. 

His screams only stopped when he heard the sound of glass breaking.

*****************************************************

That night, he decided.

He would take Lillie and the Type:Null. He would take them both and run away from the Paradise forever, and protect them.

That way, they could all be safe from what used to be their mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: gladion is my fav character from sun/moon  
> also me: *puts him through a truckload of shit*
> 
> the quote is from The Dark Knight, said by the Joker. i just went from flower info to edgy quotes lol  
> also i just figured out how to type " é " pls help  
> the 'eight months, nine weeks and three days' thing is a reference to 'eight, nine and three' being the worst hand in a gambling game.
> 
> Have a great day you guys:)))


	5. Vicia Salvatoris

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Purple Vetch, or Vicia americana, is a plant known for its beautiful flowers, and it symbolises shyness and support. It is also known for its capacity to grow and reclaim land that has been burned down or regarded as infertile.

It was a fairly cloudy December morning as the children roused from their rare peaceful sleep.  
"Gladi?"  
"Mm?"  
"Can you check how my knee is?"

Pulling the covers off, the older sibling checked her newest injury, skimming his fingers gently over the white gauze. Days ago, she'd tripped and fallen out of panic when she'd nearly been caught by their mother whilst downstairs, sneaking food from the fridge, as she was very hungry. She was hungry almost all the time now as Lusamine hardly fed her anymore, so that she could stay 'thin'. _That's Taurus crap_. "How many days has it been?"

"About two and a half weeks. I haven't really touched this bandage since that happened, so it's a bit dirty," she blinked. "Can you remove it?"

"Okay," Gladion replied. "It should be healed by now." Carefully, he unwrapped the outer layers of gauze as Lillie yelped, which made him wince in turn. When he finished removing the bandage, he saw new pink skin underneath, as he'd removed the scabs by accident as well. "Sorry."

_I'm sorry I can't do anything right, sister. I'm so sorry. Because of me, you've got this injury. You've got so many injuries this past year..._

"It's okay," Lillie murmured sleepily, curling into the sheets. "What's the date today? The seventeenth or the eighteenth?" she asked, blearily looking at the calendar on the wall. "The nineteenth, actually. Mother's going to be back tomorrow, on the twentieth of December. So, until then," he murmured, "We can catch a few more hours of sleep for today." Stretching, he pulled the covers over them again and laid back down onto the mattress. Lillie snuggled herself into his shoulder and nodded off, but he stayed awake, staring at the ceiling.

While Lusamine was still in Sinnoh, they could actually escape. There were only twenty-four hours left, after all. 

*********************************************

As Gladion sat against one of the massive bookshelves of the Aether Library, located on the third floor, he opened a large volume detailing the floor plan of Aether Paradise. Examining the blueprints, he formulated a plan of escape. He'd need to act it out at a very late hour as there would be only minimal guards on patrol. 12:00 a.m would do; they'd also have the cover of night when taking the boat.

First, he'd go to the security room of Aether Paradise, on the sixth floor, and somehow disable all the cameras at once. Maybe cause a huge blackout-but that would be too ambitious-so he settled for a small, security-room-only blackout. Then he'd go to the secret labs and reverse the cryostasis of all the Type:Nulls. However, the alarms would probably activate at this point if he did anything stupid, so he'll need to rush to the mansion, get Lillie, and hurry down to the docks. _No, wait-_

The building would go on full lockdown if the alarms kept ringing for a full ten minutes. If he triggered the alarm only to go outside, he'd be locking all of them outside the building with no means of escape. He needed Lillie to be waiting for him inside the main building itself, preferably inside the Conservation Area-as they were Lusamine's kids, they were allowed to be there after visiting hours.

If Lillie was already waiting for him at the Conservation Area with all the stuff she'd need, they could rush straight to the docks, take a boat and set it on a course for one of the islands. Poni Island would be the best choice: there was more wildlife there than civilisation, so Lusamine wouldn't expect them to go there. Moreover, it was their father's home island. They'd then go to the Island Kahuna and seek their help. Maybe get a place to stay, if not at a Pokémon Center. 

And maybe, just maybe, he'd become a really strong Pokémon Trainer, with the help of the Type:Nulls. That way, he could stop the Ultra Beasts if they came again into the world, and he could also make sure that nobody from Lusamine's faction of Aether Paradise could even come near Lillie. The Type:Nulls could also be freed from those limiter masks. 

_His plan was complete_ , he thought as he held back tears. It was _finally_ complete; after he'd first made his promise of escape, he'd blatantly refused to fulfill it for a year. 

Taking a deep breath, he revised it again in his mind until every single detail was branded into his brain. Only one question remained: How was he going to get Lillie to wait for him at such a late hour? And would she agree to all this? She would, right? She was also tormented by Lusamine. If anyone needed to get out of this place, it was her. She didn't need to suffer like this every day. _She'd...be convinced...._

"Oh, I'm so sorry-Young Master?!" a light voice came from above his head, startling him. "Miss Wicke? You don't have to apologise. I'm sorry," he replied, picking up a few books she'd dropped next to him on the floor, and standing up. "Why are you here so early? Studying already?" she commented, smiling, though it didn't reach her eyes. "At this rate, you'll know everything about Pokémon and business even before you're President! I look forward to your time overseeing the Foundation. You'll do an excellent job."

At this, his heart froze. He realised that he wasn't even trying to hide the book in his hands; after all, he trusted Wicke, didn't he? And-and whenever Lusamine had smiled and asked him about his studies or given him a few tests, he'd felt repulsed and angry and he felt like tearing his throat out with his bare hands, lest he screamed at her face again. But now, when Wicke had praised him, he-he felt nice, like he _wasn't a waste of space who deserved to die, wasn't a heartless, soulless shell of a brother-_

"Young Master, please, what's wrong?"

Wicke was now kneeling before him, wiping his cheeks with a handkerchief. He hadn't even realised he was crying. "Nothing. I'm fine," he murmured, forcing his voice back to normalcy. He couldn't lose control. Not at such a critical moment! "I was just-um, something got in my eye," he lied, the words choked up like bile. Besides, he needed to focus for these next few hours. Now he knew. He trusted Wicke. "Miss Wicke?" he began, carefully.

"Yes, Young Master?"

"Do you know anything about the Type:Full Project? Anything at all?"

She blanched. "How do you know about that?" she whispered. "It was aborted a full year ago, due to all three models being failures."

"So you support them being frozen forever?!" he snarled.

"No, not at all!" she whimpered defensively. "Those Pokémon deserve a free life and not to be tortured like they were. But I didn't do anything then...and neither am I doing anything about it even now...."

"Wait, why-"

"Young Master Gladion," she uttered with a finality that shook him to his core. "Let us keep this between you and me for now. The Type:Nulls, all of them, starting tomorrow, will be terminated one by one."

****************************************************

Gladion hurried down to the labs, looking at the time on the digital clock embedded into the walls. 10:30 a.m. Even in the morning, the labs were still dark and reeked of sea salt. He didn't care if he was found by any of the other scientists anymore. He just needed to find the Type:Nulls and make sure that they were safe, especially given Wicke's warning. They needed to be safe, at least until 12 a.m. that day. Then they could all disappear from Aether. The timing was almost too good to be true.

Walking into Secret Lab A, he moved over to the glass tanks in the far corners of the room. They housed the three cryogenically-frozen chimeras, their eyes unblinking. One would normally think they were dead, but Gladion knew better. If they were to choose between preservation of a potentially one-of-a-kind species or killing it, they would go with the first option. His mother was all about second chances, except when it came to her children. If an experiment failed, she'd try again and again and again. Admitting defeat simply wasn't in her dictionary. She'd even given him a second chance once, when _he_ was the experiment.

He tapped on the glass absent-mindedly with his fingers, the code to de-frost the Pokémon already at the tip of his tongue. When the Nulls were around, he felt powerful. Like if anyone bothered him at this point, he could literally just sick them on that person. If he wanted, he could unleash havoc all over the labs as he'd run away to freedom. Opening a nearby drawer, he took out a few coloured discs, reading the document under them. 

_Type:Full had been genetically engineered to change types of its own volition. However, its failure has limited it to only one type at a time, accessible by insertion of one of these discs, called Memories, into the drive installed in its skull around the mandibular region. These discs, as named, are in fact the accumulations of grey matter of the various Pokémon that Type:Full has been created from, as well as the signature cells found in the types of these Pokémon. For example, the tail of Type:Full has been designed after the tail of a Samurott, and hence the Water Memory has the brain cells of an actual Samurott as well as an accretion of bubble cells (water-holding cells) embedded into it. When a Memory has been inserted into the drive, the specimen's crest, eyes and tail fin have been observed to change colour accordingly._

He badly wanted to set the Nulls free right then, but his common sense interfered, telling him to wait just a bit longer. Just a bit more...

"Young Master?!" 

He turned to see Faba at the doorway. By the way he'd nearly jumped, he'd might as well have seen his mother. "Mr.Faba," he greeted solemnly, as the man placed his hand on his shoulder. Gladion could feel five phantom fingers subtly digging their long, manicured fingernails into his shirt. He didn't make a sound. "What brings you here?" The voice was lazy and carefree, but he knew. That underneath that voice was an ice-cold threat. He could feel his mother breathing down his throat. _One step out of line equals two steps on your tiny little toes, my dear boy. Maybe even ten, if you're really asking for it_. He swallowed.

"Looking at the theory on how the RKS System works."

He was _her_ son. He could shape his voice from a shaky tremolo to a cold, deep baritone in a second, making sure to execute it with heartless grace. Faba mustn't suspect anything. _He wouldn't._

"Since when did you take such an interest in the Type:Null Project?" Faba drawls, lazily tracing the glass with a gloved hand. If Gladion could, he'd chop it off. "Very unlike you. Children surely are unpredictable, aren't they?" He then had the audacity to laugh at those cold, unseeing eyes in the tank. As if an adult could never have done that with bad intentions. As if they were better than him. No, they were at the exact level they thought he was. Skirting right at the edge of the Distortion World.

He was ten. But he was far from innocent-so he was definitely not a child.

"Go back upstairs, Young Master Gladion. I'll talk to you about this later," Faba hissed. "If you don't want to leave anything behind."

That sentence broke him for the briefest of instants. _Stop it_ , he chastised himself as he stepped back. _He doesn't know. He doesn't mean that_. "Mr.Faba?"

"What is it now?" came the annoyed rasp.

"I have a theory on the RKS System to share. I'll put the details together by tomorrow. Until then....please keep the Type:Nulls as they are. Or is that impossible for you to do?"

_As expected, he'll rise to the bait, especially when his ego's the target._

"Oh, you do? In that case, I shall comply with your...petty request. If it's just for a small thesis."

As Gladion walked out of the room, he reflected about how easily those lies had spilled from his mouth.

_**************************************************_

_11:30 p.m._

Gladion rose from the bed and slowly turned on the night light. He looked at his bag, the one he'd be packing with all the stuff he'd need. Turning to the side, he gently shook Lillie's shoulder. "Lil. Lil, come on, wake up," he whispered. She woke up faster than usual; the extra hours of sleep in the morning must have recharged her batteries enough. "What happened? G-Gladi?" she said, her voice hoarse with sleep. "What are you doing?"

He suddenly felt the urge to hug her and he did, which only confused her more. "Big brother?"

He turned his face into the crook of her neck, squeezing her tight. "I'm sorry for not telling you sooner. I-I made a plan. For us to run away from here. From her.....From the Paradise. Forever." He released he from his hold, looking into her eyes, begging her to agree. "Please.....pack up your things, Lillie. Let's go. Quickly..."

Her face contorted and formed a weird expression, and for one heart-wrenching moment, Gladion thought she'd tell him that it was impossible, but-

"O-okay.."

She slowly slid off the bed and walked briskly over to her room. His heart feeling much lighter now, Gladion packed his things in the small red sling bag, after which he walked to his sister's room and found her packing her things in a grey duffel bag. "Gladi..Are you..sure about this...?" she asked hesitantly, slowly. He nodded, his whole body trembling. "Y-yeah. For a year...I've thought about this. About leaving and settling on one of the islands, where she can't find us..For a year, I've watched her hurt you _so many times_ , Lil. I...I can't let her hurt you. Not again..Never again! And the Type:Nulls...They need to be saved. Someone has to h-help them..."

Lillie's eyes widened, and she stood up and softly wiped his tears away. "Gladi, I...." she trailed off. "What's....your plan?"

The pain in his chest amplified and he once again felt like tearing his throat out. He held back the urge to hug her once more. "After you're finished packing, wait for me at the Conservation Area. And stay hidden. Stay...near the elevator. Alright?"

"Okay," she mumbled, so low he almost couldn't catch it.

Once she was finished, he ran out of the building with her behind him.

Gladion rushed to the elevator and down to the labs. It was now or never. He had only one chance. Only one. His mother would be back in a few hours. He had to free the Nulls now. Gently, he placed his hand on the scanner, and-

And it flashed red. Denying him entry. _W-What?!_

This wasn't possible. His handprint had been saved! It couldn't have been deleted..that simply wasn't the case! Panicking, he put his other hand on the scanner. 

_Access denied._

Losing all hope, he punched in the passcode, praying for a miracle..

**ACCESS DENIED.**

He fell to his knees, banging on the door to the labs frantically, unshed tears blocking up his throat. He couldn't speak. He couldn't see or hear. All of his senses had been numbed by his despair, an ever-present and suffocating despair that made his whole body hurt.

" _If you don't want to leave anything behind."_

He'd known. Faba had known. That he was planning something with the Type:Nulls. So he'd done the most obvious thing: refresh the passcodes to the Secret Labs. Common sense. A precautionary measure this simple...and it'd be the one to ruin their lives.

_**No** , please, no, please this can't be happening **please** someone **help me** I **can't do this I can't -**_

And then the door opened. A pearly white glow spilled from within.

_A miracle...?_

He looked up to see dark purple curls and warm olive eyes, and a lilac turtleneck. And he cried out, a fraction of the impossibly heavy weight lifted...

"M-miss Wicke!"

"Quickly," she whispered, tears in her eyes. "He's....already eliminated two."

"No...!" Gladion rasped, and he ran faster than he'd ever run in his life, wrenching the door open. And he wasn't alone. There were a few scientists guarding the remaining Type:Null, still frozen in the glass case. 

If he was still the same as before, he would stop and think. If he was still the same, he wouldn't be so reckless.

But now he was crazed and panicked, and he could feel a part of himself slipping. He was _her_ son, and maybe a few of his screws were starting to come loose too. He shoved, kicked, bit and scratched at whatever touched him, be it fabric or flesh. By the time he reached the tank, they'd already summoned their Pokémon, whose attacks hit him relentlessly from left and right, the smell of singed flesh and blood in the air. But somehow, in the haze of adrenaline, he pressed onward and shakily typed the code into the machine, and it did its work in seconds. _The latest technology._

When he came to again, he saw the unmoving bodies of the scientists on the floor and Type:Null standing over them, violently shaking its head from side to side. _How much time has it been?!_ It turned toward something in the doorway, and Gladion followed its gaze, to look at Wicke's horrified expression. The Type:Null approached her slowly, menacingly, and Gladion immediately opened his bag, searching for something, anything to stop it from hurting her too..

As it pounced, he threw. 

The black-and-gold PokéBall came into contact with the smooth grey feathers of its mane, and it disappeared in a flash of light. The Luxury Ball shook once, twice, thrice, and then... _click._ He didn't wait for anything else to happen, darting out of the lab and running down the hallway to the elevator, stowing the ball away into his bag. He didn't look back.

***************************************************

Lillie ran up to him as soon as he arrived. "Gladi! Why did-" she shrieked. "What happened to you?!"

"Don't worry...about me. Let's go. To the docks." Gladion panted, his voice hoarse and his whole body aching. He started towards the elevator keypad once more, but then he realised; Lillie wasn't moving. She was just trembling on the spot. She was crying too..

He was just too numb, too vulnerable. He couldn't bear it at this point if something were to happen to her. They had to move, and fast.

"Lillie, come on, please-"

"Gladion," she choked out, tearfully. "Gladion, this is wrong. Running away...is wrong."

"Lillie, please, no..No...!" he cried, tears now visibly struggling to break out. "Please, you have to come with me, or Mother will hurt you! You can't stay here- it's not safe!" _He was at his absolute limit..._

"I...I think we have to stay with each other, as a family. In a family, we don't leave each other behind.."

_Feeling his heart break into pieces, splinter by splinter..._

"Brother.."

When he looked up at her, she wore the same worn, kind look on her face. "Please..Take care of the Pokémon you've rescued."

And she pressed the button on the keypad, sending only him down to the docks, as her brother felt himself **shatter.**

************************************************************

Gladion quietly walked to the last boat. _What am I doing?_ he thought. 

_In a family, we don't leave each other behind._

But here he was, abandoning his precious baby sister with a monster. _He himself was a monster....._

"Leaving so soon?" 

He turned to see the object of his nightmares, having arrived just on time. Her hair flowing in a perfect sheet, jewels sadistically glowing in the blankness. Just as he opened his mouth, he felt a sharp pain along the side of his head.

The next images were a blur. He vaguely felt himself being dragged upstairs, and he glanced at the full moon. _I'm so sorry, sister. I can't do anything right._ Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw more employees gathered by the entrance, and he could see a flash of sickening bottle green as Faba threw his head back and laughed. And...somewhere far away, he saw light purple glasses and a trembling figure. He focused his gaze on her, and he knew she was looking at him, too. He trusted Wicke, and he knew...he knew she could read lips.

He mouthed something softly. A request.

_Take care of Lillie._

Wicke stilled, and in turn, gave the smallest nod.

Running, running _, running is wrong,_ but then suddenly he was running, out of his mother's grasp, _to freedom_ -and he jumped.

Over the railing and into the ice-cold sea.

When you fall into water from a height, it feels like concrete. This was no different. Gladion sank down into the depths of the cold, _cold_ ocean like a Dhelmise, the inky blackness swallowing him up, the water accepting his tears like lifeblood. This was the end. For him...and for Null.

_I wish. I wish._

_I wish I'd never been born, if my life were to be filled with so much pain._

The silver moon released a merciful, beautiful showering of light in response, before his vision faded away into nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoop the boi has escaped, i repeat he has escaped  
> but is that really a good thing though? time will tell 
> 
> haha yeah get onboard the angst train we've got free cookies and tissues
> 
> thanks for staying tuned for this slow ass fic you guys, y'all are too nice :'D


	6. Frangipani

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The flowering plant Plumeria, also known by the common name Frangipani, represents positivity in Hawaiian culture and is also used as a herbal remedy for fear and anxiety in Ayurveda.

The cheers from the Battle Royal Dome reverberated throughout the avenue. It had been named Royal Avenue for a reason. Shoving both hands in his sweatshirt pockets, Gladion walked inside the Pokémon Center. The nurse at the counter seemed particularly enthusiastic on asking him if he was partaking in a Battle Royal. "What exactly is that?"

"Oh, my bad! You must be new to all this," she chirped, accepting the grey PokéBall tray from a couple of Comfeys and setting it down. "Basically, it's a battle between four Trainers in a ring. Each Trainer can aim for whomever of the other three Trainers they're battling, kind of like a free-for-all. When all of the Pokémon belonging to a Trainer get knocked out, the match ends, and the winner is the Trainer with the most Pokémon left." 

"It seems easy, but there might be some really powerful Trainers in this field, right?" he commented.

"Oh, my word, yes! You've heard of the Masked Royal?" she asked, her eyes sparkling dreamily. Upon seeing her client's confusion, though, she elaborated, "He's only the strongest and most capable Trainer of them all! He's, like, the undefeated Battle Royal Champion~!"

"I'll try, but if I'm up against him...it's in Arceus's hands..." the blond boy answered absently, accepting his Pokémon and stowing the PokéBalls in his sweatshirt pocket, except for Zorua, who he left out. At this, the nurse laughed. "Don't worry! You can always register as a beginner, as you have two Pokémon so far...and you've never done a Battle Royal before. See you soon!"

As he walked out, he made his way quietly to the back of a flashy building called the 'Pokémon Fan Club'. Taking out the Luxury Ball, which had been vibrating continuously, he summoned the chimeric Pokémon. At first, it looked disoriented and confused, but then it sat down quietly, unable to bear the massive weight of the helmet, breathing heavily. The boy sat down next to it, taking its head and lowering it down onto his lap, stroking its body; Zorua snuggled against its front leg. "It's okay, buddy...you're okay. You'll be okay," he crooned. It was becoming a problem. Null had been created to fight, so it loved to battle, but the stress of the fights made its head pain due to the helmet. This was why Null was difficult to train, even though it wanted to become strong. He could tell.

"I should stop calling you....an _it._ It's been months," he mused loudly. "So...are you a boy or a girl?" The question felt stupid-like some random introduction to an RPG game where an old man asked you about your personal details-and he knew Null had no technical gender as it was not given any reproductive organs. But he'd heard of the word 'transgender' before (even though Lusamine had scoffed at it) and he was sure that Null would at least feel more at ease if he knew what pronoun best suited it. Zorua perked up-she was a female and she'd always wag her tail cutely when he said "Good girl!", or anything of the sort. His Zubat was a male and was either hyperactive or deadpan all the time, so it didn't really make much of a difference, but it still felt right. 

Null lifted its head up a bit, blinking. Gladion sweat-dropped. "You..know what that means, right..?" 

Null blinked again. 

Zorua yipped a bit and ran around in a funny circle before biting the fluffy tip of her tail and growling in an odd way, which resembled a Mightyena's laughter. She then stopped moving, shivered a bit and sat back down on the grass. "Rua rua zoruu..." she huffed, looking Null in this eyes, as the Synthetic Pokémon nodded, seemingly understanding what her partner was trying to say.

"Okay," he tried. It felt silly, but there was another tactic he wanted to try out. Standing, he reached out with his hand towards the Pokémon, the palm facing upwards. "Up, boy." Null didn't budge, it only pressed its helmeted head forward to meet his calloused palm.

"Okay, so...." her Trainer repeated awkwardly. Once again, he commanded, "Up, girl!"

Null didn't move again for a few moments, but then it purred and wagged its fish tail, raising itself a bit on its haunches, placing its chin on his hand and sitting back down. "So you're okay with girl, huh? Null?" he asked, the question answered by a metallic garbled chirp. "Girl it is then." Zorua barked in assent before moving to nuzzle Gladion's ankle. He picked her up and sat back down next to Null. His Zubat flitted in the night sky, letting out small beeping noises like a bird, appearing to have a conversation with a Murkrow.

_"Yo, what the heck is that thing?!"_

A couple of people dressed in shabby black vests, face masks, torn white shorts, and S-shaped medallions were staring at them. Zorua pricked up her ears. They were used to the occasional bunch of people spotting Null and saying something similar. Zorua was rather peaceable, so she didn't really react much to the intrusion. Zubat watched carefully from above. However, Gladion was a little salty over them calling Null a 'thing'. "A Pokémon, obviously." 

"Some crazy-ass looking Pokémon that is, dude," one of the people, a girl with short bubblegum pink hair, spoke up. "I've never seen nothin' like it before. What kind is it?" The other guy, who had messy blue hair, snarked, narrowing his eyes. "Cause that 'un looks _real_ strong." 

"You wouldn't know," Gladion replied nonchalantly, getting on his feet once more. "It- _She's_ from another region, far off from Alola." In the last ten or so months, he'd perfected the art of lying seamlessly, so as to never repeat what had happened to strand him here in the first place. "Even I don't know where she came from."

The girl with pink hair's eyes widened. "Huh. Talk about origin story. So she's been smuggled too?" The guy stepped forward, mussing his blue locks. "You on your own, kid?"

At this, his Ariados sense tingled. Something was up. "Pretty much have been all my life. Why do you ask?" 

"Ever heard..of being mugged?!"

A hand was about to grab his neck, but then Zubat dive-bombed and bit the person behind him. "Thanks, buddy," Gladion said breathlessly, looking at the scene that had just unfolded. Another person, a burly-looking guy with green hair had tried to seize him. He too wore the same medallion, but his vest, although the same pattern as the others', was a bit more messed up with what looked like graffiti. "Freakin' Zubat!" he cursed, wiping his bloodied finger on his clothes. Taking out a Great Ball, he summoned a large Raticate that snarled at the three. "Brat, we ain't gonna lie. How much Poké do you have on you now? Say, an estimate? We gonna pinch that."

"Sorry, but I'm about as broke as you are," Gladion spat, gesturing for Null to stand, which she did, revealing her pretty average height of six feet, taller than any of the people-or Pokémon-in the vicinity. "And I can't really afford to eat nothing but instant ramen and Pokébeans for another six months straight just because I let a bunch of idiots rob me. Get lost."

"Hah, that's funny, kid! _'Idiots'_ , huh?! We live better lives than you!" the other guy snorted, summoning a Pokémon that looked like a medium-sized purple and white skunk that hissed a purplish spray. "You tryin' to act tough? Then let's beat ya down so bad even the Boss'll be impressed!"

"Oooh, I got a better idea. How 'bout let's do the beatdown classic showdown style in a Battle Royal," the girl smirked, gesturing for the two other thugs to look at the dome nearby. "As if I'm agreeing," Gladion hissed through clenched teeth. " _Make_ me." To prove his point, Null let out a muffled roar beside him, and Zorua transformed into a large Persian using Illusion, snarling loudly. Zubat hovered over his head, silent but vigilant.

"..'Kay, how about a deal, toughie?" the girl said. "If you manage to win, well...somehow, then we'll leave you alone forever, spread ya name all over Team Skull, maybe even get you immunity from the Boss Beatdown," she offered, lifting up a finger. "But if ya lose, then you'll hand over all your cents quietly and not make it any more of a big deal than it already is."

"And if you reject the participation certificate, we'll annoy you for the rest of your puny life," the dude with the green hair finished. "So first, let's all go out on a limb here and get to the place ASAP."

He passed the turn to the lanky guy with blue hair. "Oi, we can't wait forever."

"Arceus, already? No rap, my dude?"

Gladion didn't even realise they were already walking to the dome until they were in front of it. The blue-haired Grunt shoved him into the doors, Null trotting in after him, followed by Zorua (still in Persian form) and Zubat, which pressed closer to him in response to the sudden change in brightness. As he returned his team to their Pokéballs, he saw some people who were still in the dome staring at them, but he ignored them as the Grunts pushed him along to the registration counter. 

A woman with hazel hair in a ponytail and round glasses, who painfully reminded him of Wicke, was at the desk, jumping at the intrusion. "Team Skull. You can't be serious-"

"Relaaax, lady, we ain't here to wreck the place...for once," the green-haired guy said. "We just have a score to settle with someone, Battle Royal style. We'll register. Is the ring empty? It better be." 

The woman's gaze flicked to Gladion and he just shook his head, sighing and covering his face with his hands.

"It has...just been used and is being vacated."

"Good, then we won't have to kill anyone," the girl mumbled, adjusting her Team Skull cap. "Kay, then we'll use the ring now. How's that?"

*******************************************

The match was going horribly.

Null was already so tired from her previous battles and just wanted to rest; however, these guys just kept battering her left and right in the ring. "Come on, girl...Ssh, just a bit more. You can do it. Crush Claw!"

She whined and pushed onward, slashing at the female Grunt's Mareanie, which retaliated with a powerful Poison Jab, followed by a Bite from the blue-haired Grunt's Stunky and a series of Fury Swipes from the green-haired guy's Raticate. Gladion began to panic. Null wouldn't last long. He knew that at this point, she'd be too tired to even go berserk like she sometimes did. He'd even run out of Potions. "You can do it, Null! X-Scissor on the Raticate! Dodge whatever you can!" he bellowed, throwing her a Sitrus Berry as a last-ditch effort. She leapt forward with renewed vigor, this time knocking out the Raticate with a super-effective attack, dodging another Poison Jab and enduring Bite. 

"The match has been ended! Participant....Grunt's Raticate has been knocked out by participant Gladion's....Pokémon!" the lady's voice echoed in the ring, as the green-haired Grunt yelled in frustration, "WE COULD'VE WON IF YOU ALLOWED US TO REGISTER MORE THAN ONE POKÉMON!" He ran out of the dome, followed by the other two.

As they walked out of the dome too and towards Route 8, Gladion sighed, adrenaline still coursing through his veins, and suddenly, Null collapsed onto the ground. "Null? You okay, girl, what's wrong? Nu-"

His heart stopped when he saw the blood coming from her head, trickling from the helmet. "Oh Arceus, no," he whispered. "No! Hang on, it's okay, it's okay...!" His heart was pounding erratically as his vision faded in and out, as he remembered.

_"GET IT ON NOW BEFORE IT DESTROYS EVERYTHING!"_

_"Please...take care of the Pokémon you've rescued.."_

Null's whines sounded in the distance as he too sank to his knees, his head in his hands as he weakly cried out for someone, anyone, to come and help, because Null was going to die and he couldn't leave someone behind like this again. His moth- _Lusamine's_ footsteps rang out beside him, making his ears split in agony.

"Hey, kid...Are you alright..?"

His head violently jerked upwards, to see bright amber eyes surrounded by dark, and flashes of pink and yellow, and some traces of black and white dancing around in the static. He grabbed onto whatever he can hold onto and nearly screamed his throat raw.

"Null....Please help her...!"

*********************************************

_"Is he up yet?"_

_"No."_

_"What about that freaky chimera thingy?"_

_"That one's alright."_

Gladion heard voices like those in his dreams, voices that soothed and scared him in the cold shroud of sleep. When he finally choked away some of the pressure in his chest, he awoke with a throaty exhale and a coughing fit. "Woah, easy there," a familiar voice sounded.

He turned his eyes sideways-it hurt a bit-to see a worn old man with close-cropped greying hair and red eyes sitting beside him. He was on a small cot which smelled of disinfectant and...Pokémon food? "You wanna have some water? 'Cause this is actually cold as hell and it won't exactly be great for your throat if you have a cold."

"Yes, please." His voice sounded like a death rattle.

"So you can still talk. That's good," the old man deadpanned. A little girl with big violet eyes and hair skipped over to his side, slowly lifting his head up with one hand and using the other to lift a glass to his lips, which helped a lot; he was far too tired to move. After she made him drain the glass, she set it down on the table and pulled up his covers. "You gotta rest well, Kaikuāna," she said sweetly. And just like that, unbidden, he started to get teary-eyed because _how long had it been since he'd left Lillie alone back home?_

"Where's Null?"

"Ya mean the chimera thing," another voice rang out. A woman was standing at the doorway; she had pink and yellow hair tied up with two weird ornaments and amber eyes with thick eyeshadow. She wore a cropped tank top and pants with a tattoo on her stomach. "The Pokémon's fine." She threw him the Luxury Ball and the old man caught it, handing it to him. When he placed it to his ear, he heard Null's trademark metallic purr and the sounds of muffled chirping. "Thank you so much.." Gladion whimpered weakly. "But...What happened? How did I.."

The woman takes a seat near the bed. "Me an' Guz were just strollin' through Lush Jungle when we heard some Pokémon whinin'. When we came out you were on your knees and yelling something, and when we talked to you, ya just jumped and grabbed Guz's hand and said that Null or whatever needed help. That Pokémon, by the way, was wrecked. Bleedin' badly. So we brought you both here cause Nanu's place-" she gestured to the old man, "-was the only one who'd take in someone like you at 2 a.m in the mornin'. You basically got a panic attack."

"Where am I?" he asked, the question pointed at the old man, Nanu. "Ula'ula," he replied. "Police station near Route 17. How old are you?" he asked, his eyes looking tired. "Ten years old."

"Are you gonna do your Island Challenge?" the little girl piped up. "What's...an Island Challenge?" was all he could answer, the heavy tendrils of sleep pulling him down. 

The last thing he heard was a new, gruff masculine voice asking if the kid was awake or not.

***********************************************

"So what's the problem, kiddo?"

Guzma fetched a can of soda from a nearby vending machine and threw it to Gladion, who opened it clumsily, the fizz spilling all over his grey hoodie. "I'm running low on cash. The rent'll be fine for the next year, but-"

"You're starving," Plumeria finished blandly, poking him in his agonisingly prominent ribs. "I mean, it's kinda obvi. You're the skinniest ten-year-old we've ever seen, and we've seen plenny ten or eleven-year-olds." 

"Beaten down hard, actually, but not the point," Guzma dismissed, squatting down to his level. "You have a good team? I mean, other than that Null thing. How hard is your skull already?" he emphasised, tapping on Gladion's forehead. His breath reeked of...wine? In response, the boy summoned Zubat, Zorua and Null as they sat obediently near him. Zorua curiously sniffed at the soda pop before sipping from it as Null blinked at Plumeria. "That's all. They're not much...for now," he began, unsure.

"For now," Plumeria repeated, taking a swig of her can. "I had a Zubat too. Golbat now. Pretty strong, I'd say. Zorua are actually rare and useful if used right, and the chimera looks pretty beast to me."

 _Beast Killer, actually_ , he said in his mind. "So you guys can help me get stronger? So I can actually become a good Trainer?"

"Yeah, sure," Guzma plopped down on his throne. "Along the way, you'll get enough cash to live off of. Plus Team Skull prepares ya for the hardest parts of life. Sweet lil' bonus. You can be a Grunt or somethin'-"

"N-no thanks."

"...'Kay, dunno what problem you got with that, but the thing is if you don't wanna be a Grunt, you can...keep 'em in line. Sometimes, during a job, they get caught. You can be their..emergency backup or whatever. Besides, you got no parents, do ya? You said you was livin' on rent in Akala."

Gladion hung his head. His father was dead, and he'd stopped considering Lusamine as his mother a long time ago, after all. "No."

Plumeria patted him on the back. "Welcome to Team Skull. You're now officially the enforcer." she smiled, standing up and pulling him to his feet. "Enforcer, huh? Nice one, Plum," Guzma laughed. "Now why don't you show the kid around?"

********************************************

As locks of blond hair fell onto the floor, Null chirped in confusion, but Gladion continued to move the razor around his head, shaving his hair almost entirely save for a messy fringe on the right side of his face. He used his hands to mess up the bangs he'd made, but he still didn't look at the mirror in front of him. Gesturing for Null to go outside, he quickly changed into his new outfit: a full-sleeved black shirt and jeans with a black hoodie, complete with a red fanny pack. By this time, he could hear Zorua's and Zubat's sleepy whines, as if to say, _It's 5 in the morning, what's going on?_

Standing in front of the mirror, he absorbed his own reflection. A shabbier, rebellious, more powerful and ruthless version of himself. In the back of his mind, he could hear Lusamine's screeching over his horrific choice in clothes, but he didn't care. He knew he was part of the same gang that had harassed and hurt Null, but he couldn't help it. Guzma and Plumeria were his last hope.

From now on, he was going to become strong. He was going to stop Lusamine and reveal the truth of the Aether Foundation's research to everyone, as well as the treatment of the Type:Nulls. He was going to save Lillie and take care of her, and free Null from her torturous mask.

"You guys?" he called out, addressing the Pokémon watching him. "Let's go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, just a small notice. This story will be on hiatus till September 22nd, as I have important matters at college, as well as exams. I really apologise for this as well as the delay in posting this chapter.
> 
> Hope you keep looking forward to future chapters and thanks for reading!


	7. Beautiful Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Perhaps when the silver moonlight had once illuminated a morning glory which was somehow blooming exquisitely on the most frigid and black midnight, it had been trying to tell him something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: Mentions of blood and gore, panic attacks, and emotional repression (in unhealthy ways, including self-harm).

"Any other things I have to do?" Gladion spoke, the tones of his voice withdrawn. 

"No. You still have to train up your team, don't ya?" Plumeria snapped, her voice retreating from the end of the line a bit, and he heard her yelling at a few Grunts in the background. "Whatever. Don't bother us 'til this fricking mess gets wiped up. Po Town's 'recked."

Apparently, the International Police was around Alola now. They'd reportedly seen the criminal activities of Team Skull and beaten them down really bad, and for the moment, they were on high alert on Ula'ula. Gladion wondered if his situation was one that could be explained to people like them. If he was with the police instead of on the run from them, maybe things could be different. Lusamine could be stopped sooner. _Sooner..._

How long had it been since he'd run away, again? Since he'd ended up as a part of Team Skull? No, he wasn't one of them, they'd even told him time and time again that he'd never truly be a member. Even when they'd just managed to escape thanks to Golbat or occasionally Null. Plumeria had been, in the beginning, a very nice person to him and gave him extra pieces of cloth to patch his hoodie; now she was mixed up in other problems and most probably saw him as a nuisance. Guzma? He was too invested in booze as of late.

Once or twice when he was lost in his thoughts, he'd muse about how Team Skull's manifesto was to beat down and smash the unpleasant world (they were doing just _great_ so far), for what it had done to them. He had no such tendency. 

Which brought him to the main point: that he had been exaggerating Lusamine's treatment of him since day one. It was mostly just insults, isolation and a little violence, but he should've been able to take it easily enough. Lillie was starved to near exhaustion and the fact that her skin had to be a flawless porcelain white was fussed over till she was in tears. She had it much, much worse than him, and she'd still loved their mother. And him? He'd run away under the façade of saving Null, when he was just being an ugly coward. What was even the point of stopping her? He was too weak. He'd always be weak.

Something vibrated in his pocket for the fifth time as he flipped through his phone.

_**Guzma** : Ey kid_

_**Guzma** : Kid_

_**Guzma** : I have a job for ya_

_**Guzma** : Are you busy_

_**Guzma** : Beat down some trial kids and then lets talk_

_Another job_ , he thought listlessly. But first, he had to steamroll some Trial-Goers, an action that yielded him no joy. Strolling along Brooklet Hill, he saw the two Skull Grunts arguing outside the Totem's Den. When they saw him, they instantly glared at him, which he returned-they had absolutely no business messing with a gentle giant like that Wishiwashi. For once, he'd felt like he'd done at least a little good by stopping them.

Paniola Ranch looked nicer in the sunset. Zorua, in the form of a Misdreavus, floated around him, as she pointed out another Trial-Goer coming along the way, his Pikachu eating a malasada.

He had tanned skin and dark green hair tied in a messy ponytail and held back with clips, and he wore a dark T-shirt and orange flower-print shorts. He was laughing the whole time he walked, which painfully reminded him of the eon ago when he was truly happy. Gladion's heart sank. _Yet another lively spirit to crush._ "You. Kid," he said curtly, the boy instantly stopping dead in his tracks. "Battle me."

"U-uh, o-okay?" he stammered a bit, pulling out a PokéBall and summoning a Brionne, which Golbat was easily able to take care of with Poison Jab and Confuse Ray. Next came a Noibat, which would've beaten Golbat if not for Leech Life being part of his moveset. The third, his Pikachu, managed to take down Golbat easily, but was intimidated on seeing Zorua disguised as Null, the latter easily defeating his Pikachu.

"Eevee! Swift!"

The sparkling stars hit Zorua, now revealed, with little effect, and she finished her opponent off with a well-timed Payback. Sighing, Gladion pulled out a Super Potion, sprayed away her minor injuries and revived Golbat as he accepted the prize money from the boy. He needed it badly-his last proper meal was two days ago. 

Oddly enough, after the exchange was finished, the boy chuckled a bit. "Man...I lost again, huh? Well, at least we had fun," he smiled. 

"Fun?" Gladion replied. Pokémon battles weren't exactly fun. They were to bond with your partners and get stronger, and in his case, earn a living. What was fun about making the Pokémon who trusted you battle and get hurt if it was all for fun? "Are you even taking this seriously?"

"Well, yeah, I am! I'm seriously enjoying it!" The kid grinned, pumping his fist.

"You can only enjoy a Pokémon battle when you've put everything you have into it," Gladion asserted dryly, "Which you clearly haven't." The kid fumbled in response and his eyes widened, then turned down to the ground. For a split second, he looked exactly like Lillie when Lusamine scolded her. Guilt stabbing him in the chest, he stayed silent until another pair of footsteps were heard.

A girl with long black hair and silvery grey eyes was observing the whole exchange from a distance, wearing a white fluttery top with a black bow and black shorts. Her eyes glowed in the moonlight, which surrounded her like a halo. Gladion was reminded of his mother, who was also surrounded by a similar aura, except it was a lot more sinister. However, this girl's presence, for some reason, put him at ease.

"Moon!" the kid, whose name was Hau, said, waving to her as she quietly greeted him with a perfect smile. _A smile that was too perfect_ , the other boy thought, as warning bells went off in his head. _Don't underestimate this one._ "So....Your name is Moon?"

"No," she replied politely, blinking in greeting. Her voice was soft.

"Good, so you-"

"It's actually Selene."

Gladion stopped dead in his tracks this time. For some odd reason, there was something about this girl that put him on edge. But her voice, it was soft and pure and mild, and it eased his mind, strangely enough. Her eyes were glowing softly, tenderly.

"I'm Gladion." _What am I doing stop why am I introducing myself STOP IT NOW_

"My partners and I want to battle worthy opponents so that we could become stronger." _Shit shit shit what am I saying?!_

"And I'm stuck with Team Skull." _What am I going to do next? Tell her my whole goddamn life story?!_

Thankfully, Hau interrupted him before he could lose himself. "You're part of Team Skull!" he exclaimed, finally putting his guard up. "And so what if I am?" Gladion said dismissively, putting his hand on his hips. Beside him, Zorua growled. "Battle me," he said, this time directed at the girl, Moon. She looked like the kind of person who wouldn't unnecessarily battle Trainers, the aura of a pacifist. "I won't take no for an answer."

The battle was one of the longest ones he'd ever had.

Moon's first Pokémon, a Charjabug, took on Golbat and won after some hassle after she paralyzed him. However, Zorua took on two of her Pokémon-her Charjabug and Dewpider-and after a very lengthy battle, managed to beat both of them. Moon's Mawile managed to take down the Dark-type, but was easily defeated in turn by Riolu. When she sent out her Dartrix, she somehow one-hit KOed Riolu and his Rockruff, which left Gladion as panicked as he was previously put at ease. 

Earlier, she had given off the aura of a peacemaker, but in the battlefield, she was dangerously focused and determined. Her silver eyes glowed ominously now in the night as she stared him down, daring him to go on. So far, she was the only Trial-Goer who had driven him to send out Null, which he did.

The Beast Killer stood her ground, as her Dartrix immediately went for a not-so-effective Leaf Blade, which Null easily parried with her helmet. The battle progressed in this manner, both sides randomly hitting each other with uneffective moves, both taking equal damage.

And suddenly, Moon spread her legs out and tapped a Z-Crystal on her wrist as she made the motions for the Normal-type Z-Move, which struck Null. Gladion could only pray that her helmet was left undamaged as she recovered from the move, still on her feet and panting heavily. "Null, can you go on?" he asked carefully, as he looked at Moon, at the shocked look on her face. The Synthetic Pokémon barked in assent as she charged up a Crush Claw, which was met in midair by Dartrix's Leaf Blade as the two fell back onto the ground.

Eventually, the weight of Null's helmet triumphed as she sunk into the ground, whining in pain. Dartrix hooted in victory as it sat on its Trainer's shoulder, preening itself arrogantly. Sitting beside her, Gladion fed her a Sitrus Berry as her head once again sank into his lap from exhaustion; checking her muscles found them extremely worn down from all the training she had been doing. "I'm sorry," he whispered into her ear as she cried out in agony; her Trainer returning her to the Premier Ball, he stood up and offered the prize money that he had just gotten from Hau to Moon. 

_Another sleepless night in hunger_ , he thought as dull despair sunk into his chest. _I'm so sorry, everyone_. "It's not like me...to slip up like that," he whispered. "I'll need to find stronger opponents.."

"Stronger opponents?" Moon overheard as she spoke. Gladion looked up. "Opponents like you both," he answered. Looking at Hau, he could recognise him now, from both pictures and rumors. "That kid..he's pretty strong too. And sure, it's fine to enjoy battling. But he's just using it as an excuse just cause he can't beat old Hala when he's serious!"

Hau flinched lightly; it looked like he'd hit the nail on the head. Gladion's heart was pounding from frustration and adrenaline and _that strange look that Moon was giving him_ and he just wanted to get out of there, when-

"Well, ain't you tryin' to look cool, Gladdo?"

"Team Skull!" Hau growled, as the two Grunts from earlier ambled lazily towards the group.

One of the Grunts, a brown-haired chunky guy slapped him hard on the back; he didn't flinch. "Looks like a homeless kid can be spineless too, huh?" he cackled, as he faced Moon and Hau. "Ooooh, so you two ganged up on him and beat him down hard. We get it. Sometimes the only way to defeat annoyingly strong opponents is to play dirty," a white haired female Grunt snickered. "Ya had it coming, kid."

"Don't worry," the other guy said. "We've got plenny of backbone to cover for your pathetic shitbag of excuses-"

"You know you can't beat me."

His voice smoothly melted into its trademark sharp, whip-crack baritone as he glared their way. "You'll only get your Pokémon hurt for no reason at all; they're good Pokémon. Besides-" he trailed off, his gaze narrowing, "-You're forgetting who's in charge here...aren't you?"

"Listen up good, shithole," the female Grunt hissed. "The boss and Big Sis may like you, but-"

"To everyone else, I'm just garbage," Gladion finished flatly. "You guys haven't exactly been giving me a different label, but whatever, it works anyway."

"Wait till you see how much the boss likes you once he finds out that you stopped us from stealing the Totem Pokémon at Brooklet Hill," the brown-haired guy replied, to which he sighed. "Already told him. He waved it off." _The lies came as easily as he breathed now._ "Besides, you all are much too less of a match for that Totem; it could more or less swallow you and you'd never be heard of again."

"You wish," the male Grunt said. "Whatever, the Murkrow are cryin', and we gotta be flyin'. You can crawl back into that rotten cardboard box or wherever you live and stay there."

They both walked away, leaving an uncomfortable silence. Gladion looked back at Moon and Hau and found them both pale and staring at him. He was deathly terrified of being pitied, by strangers no less, and quickly walked away before the quiet was pierced. 

_I know I'm not perfect._

*******************************************************

Guzma's job was to look for a certain Pokémon that looked like 'a living cloud of stars', or at least that's how he described it, showing him a photo. When he asked him what exactly it was called, he simply replied, "Cosmog. Heard it was a super rare specimen."

And it had been bothering him ever since, wondering how Guzma knew about something like Cosmog, whose information was probably only known to organisations like the Aether Foundation. And it was even more stressful to think if his mother was now actively looking for Ultra Beasts in Alola. After two and a half years. In regional history, Ultra Wormholes had often opened frequently and yielded many ferocious creatures. Legends had it that some Beasts had never really gone back; instead they had hidden themselves in Alola, dormant, so that the Tapu may never find them. And, apparently, Cosmog had the ability to create Ultra Wormholes and summon more.

The only thing was if his mother would really stoop so low as to seek Team Skull's help for that, which seemed outlandish. He had finally run out of rent and moved out for good from the motel on Akala, and had now settled into another motel on Ula'ula Island, near Tapu Village. There were a few trailers along the route, which all housed Team Skull Grunts. The new location also meant that he could keep a better eye on the gang's activities, if his hunch was correct. As he paid the first few weeks' worth of rent (a smaller amount than on Akala's motel) his thoughts were disrupted by a loud sound.

Exiting the motel reception, he walked out to see Hau and Moon again, this time in a loud, friendly conversation; the cacophony amplifying his constant headache. "You have only one volume, don't you?" he outright snarled, massaging his temples. "Haven't you heard the saying that silence is golden?"

Hau yelped and quailed behind Moon as he tried his best to make an angry expression. "Gah! You again!" 

Moon, however, remained as tranquil and serene as ever, once again solemnly nodding in greeting. Her expression was one of peace; a stark contrast to how most people looked at him; her eyes free of any anger or hatred. "You're not afraid of me?" he asked. Just to test her.

"Why would I be?" her soft voice echoed, her eyes widening innocently. He took a few steps toward her, clearly showing their height difference of about half a foot, narrowing his eyes at her menacingly. "I'm part of Team Skull. And besides-" he gestured to her friend, "Hau seems to have the right idea about how you treat people like me: how you treat villains. Gangsters. Hellions. Phrase it however you want."

It was true; nobody really cared about him. He'd fallen from Aether all the way to the grave, rotting with the Skulls in hell. _Moon probably was no different,_ he thought. He needed to see why she acted the way she acted, so unbiased and almost a blank slate, to the point where it scared him. 

_People who you think are perfect may not entirely be so, once you see who they truly are._

"Because I don't know you," she whispered lightly, and for a split second, she seemed to be in pain. Gladion's heart skipped two beats.

"I don't know why you are the way you are, and I have no right to question it either....but I will try to understand it. So far, from what I have seen of you, you are a very kind and caring person towards Pokémon in general...and you stay in Team Skull even though they bully you. And you seem to have an obsession with becoming strong when battling, but otherwise, you're very quiet, and distance yourself from everyone, like in the Battle Royal the other day."

The three of them were silent for a long time. Gladion felt something ugly and cursed prickling in his eyes and closed them tight, clenching his teeth in resignation as he covered his face with one hand.

He had no choice. Moon hadn't just passed the test, she had stabbed him in the heart whilst doing it. 

"Listen," he said, his voice cleared of any hoarseness. "Team Skull is looking for a Pokémon called Cosmog. Do either of you happen to know anything about it?"

"N-no...?" Hau murmured. However, the inflections and hesitation showed that he _did_ know something, but didn't trust Gladion with the information. _Good_ , he thought. _That means he won't easily give out information under duress._ "So you do know. Keep an eye out for it."

"For what?" Hau asked pointedly.

"To keep it safe, obviously," he clicked his tongue in disappointment. "Cosmog isn't a strong Pokémon, but it has the power to summon terrifyingly strong creatures that have the potential to wipe out Alola itself. Also, it's too naïve and trusting, meaning anyone can take advantage of it. So protect it. No matter what."

"All right," Moon's soft voice agreed, as even Hau nodded a bit. "Why would you tell us this? Aren't you..double-crossing Team Skull by telling us?"

"Same difference how they treat me," Gladion snarked as he turned around. "Besides, it's not like they understand the real damage Cosmog can do in the wrong hands. They aren't thinking about the consequences."

"Then you can help us."

"What?" he hissed, turning around.

Moon was looking at him, her eyes glazed. "If you really are concerned with Alola's safety, you can help us protect Cosmog, since you already know a lot about it. And...why? Why are you still with them even though they treat you...like garbage? You can come with us....We'll help you."

"It's the only way for me to survive," he sighed cryptically, waving it off. "Really appreciate the offer, but I've got other things to do. Just..remember what I told you."

He walked away, but this time, he looked back and saw the palpable worry in Moon's eyes. Perhaps she was the only person to show actual concern for him. The first to care in the outside world. 

He wondered if he was really as lonely as he thought he was when he saw familiar silvery lights in the haze of his dreams, as well as midnight streaks of hair framing it and fair skin like the gentle shimmer of moonflowers speckled with dew. 

His _~~nightmares~~_ dreams were few and too far in between-most of them being about Aether, and how its contradictory parallel came to life within it, like a parasite draining life out of its host. Sweet phantasms included the bright sun or the calm moon, and Lillie's smile and comfort in soft warm pastel shades of forest green, gold and blue.

But that time, the moonlight herself gently cradled him-only cradled him, not drawing any closer, not enveloping him in the precious haven of unconsciousness. He heard the siren song, Moon's voice, asking him to come with them. Help them. It was soft and sombre, gently resonating within his mind, stilling him and easing the poison out until it blended into the liquid canvas that was memory. 

It was killing him softly, the sound that kindly drew out what was within and put him to sleep. 

*********************************************************

His phone rang out, signifying a call from Guzma while at the Pokémon Center at Tapu Village. _Odd_ , he mused. Guzma usually messaged him or talked to him in person about new jobs. Picking up the call, he leaned against a rock near the coast of Route 15.

"What is it this time...?"

"I know you didn't do jack shit, but we found Cosmog."

His heart stopped. This wasn't possible. Cosmog was supposed to be well-guarded; he'd entrusted those two to protect it-

"Weird enough, it was with some blondie inside her bag. Strong enough Pokémon, and it's with this runt in Aether House. Called herself Lillie, or somethin'...?"

He immediately cut the call.

Crouching down, he tried his best not to lose himself.

Lillie. She had escaped. With Cosmog, of all things. And now, their mother had hunted her down for it through Guzma and Team Skull. And she'd been at Aether House. Not even two minutes away from there. He could've found out. _He could've protected her-_

"Lillie had Cosmog?! _She_ had Cosmog...?!"

"H-how do you know who Lillie is..?"

Hau's tiny mumble entered the ringing in his ears; Gladion subconsciously barely registered that he had stormed all the way to Aether House. "I still couldn't protect them?!" he hissed, running his nails across his face and arms violently, probably drawing blood, but honestly, Lillie was going to feel worse, far worse things than that. **"WHY WERE YOU SO USELESS?!"** he screamed his throat raw, repeatedly punching the wall and shivering violently, the pristine white being stained with a dirty, rebellious red, the colour of conflict and war. _Lillie where are you please come back I'm begging you-_

Gladion's stomach folded into a pit as bile leapt into his throat and he collapsed in on himself, his chest pounding in excruciating pain, and his bruised and split knuckles bleeding black on the tiles. 

_No, not yet. Not yet,_ a savage howl dragged into his system. _You can't collapse. Not here. Not anymore._ He felt the PokéBalls at his belt vibrate with a myriad of hums and growls and chirps in response to his unease, as one of them, Lycanroc, exited her ball on her own and protectively stood in front of him, growling menacingly at the people who were around him; her sky blue eyes narrowed in hostility. Null in particular cried out sharply; so did Riolu.

In response, Moon's Mawile intercepted her attack and parried it, and as was the custom, the battle continued, either side refusing to forfeit: Gladion finding the battle an unhealthy but effective way to distract himself from his emotions, and Moon trying to reach out to him.

Mawile and Lycanroc dueled furiously for a few minutes, with the latter layering several Stealth Rock traps before getting knocked out due to the type disadvantage. Riolu too was knocked out in a few minutes due to the other Pokémon's Fairy typing, but he managed to paralyze it with Force Palm, and Zoroark, disguised as Golbat, finished it off easily enough. Her Charjabug was defeated by Zoroark as well due to her Illusion Ability, but she was knocked out by Moon's powerhouse of a Bewear, who also knocked out the actual Golbat, leaving only Null, whom she easily decimated with the Fighting-type Z-Move.

It was done. He was defeated, but too weak to even fully process it or process anything that had happened.

A small hand rubbed him soothingly on the back and another lifted a glass to his lips. Gladion would have thought he was hallucinating old memories if he didn't see Acerola, clear as day in front of him. "You're better now, Kaikuāna?" she asked. He realised that he was now sitting on a bed instead of the floor and Moon was calmly wrapping his hands in fresh gauze, a first aid kit beside her. "Fine," he rasped, his throat hoarse. Acerola tended to the scrapes on his face and neck with a sweet-smelling ointment which stung badly.

Looking around the room, he saw Hau sitting in a chair, staring at him as Moon and Acerola finished dressing his wounds. He was glad that only his hands and face were hurt; if she'd had to tend to his arms, she'd see the handiwork his own hands and a razor blade had inflicted there as well. An unhealthy way of coping, but effective to a fault. Just like their battle. "That was wrong of me," he got out, weakly getting to his feet. "I shouldn't have dragged you into a meaningless battle like that. I...shouldn't have dragged any of you into this. I'm sorry."

He stared at Moon's shoes, not finding it within himself to look into her pretty silver eyes. "I have to get them back," he explained mechanically. "You both are coming with me, whether you like it or not. The only question is are you ready to come now...or not?"

"Yeah," Moon replied curtly. 

"Well, obviously." For once, Hau's voice was solemn and he wasn't smiling. "We have to save Lillie and Nebby from Team Skull. We'll go now."

"Nebby?"

"Cosmog. That's the nickname she gave her."

"Nebby, huh.." Gladion trailed off, squashing any residual uncertainty. "Alright, I'll be at the Ferry Terminal. Don't make me wait too long."

Moon reached there first. "We're waiting for Hau?" Gladion asked.

"He's stocking up on Trainer gear. He'll be here in a few minutes. The last time we battled Team Skull, they nearly overwhelmed us with their numbers, mugged us and stole all of our Hyper Potions and Revives. This time, we-"

"It's not Team Skull," he said, resolutely facing the ocean. "It's someone else. They're after Lillie."

"Not Skull, huh.." a deadpan voice resounded behind them. "Then how come I got to see Guzma himself going somewhere from the ferry terminal very urgently?"

"Officer Nanu," Gladion greeted him. "It's a bit complicated. I'll have to explain once everything is over." _If it ever does get over._

"You know each other?" Moon said, her voice inflected with emotion for the first time. Nanu stared at her. "I'm his godfather."

"What?!" Moon's eyes went very wide. _Cute_ , Gladion thought absently.

"Just messing with you," he waved it off. "He's my informant. Why can't Skull keep themselves and their hecking business in Po Town?" he complained. Straightening his back, he pointed a finger at Moon. "You're a Trial-Goer, aren't you? Thanks to Tapu Bulu's excellent judgement, I happen to be Kahuna-" he yawned sarcastically, "-So if you defeat me and all I'll give you the stamp and certifications and shit done."

Hau arrived midway through the battle, watching as Moon's Bewear literally stomped Nanu's Persian flat. That thing really was strong. Both the boys watched as Nanu stamped Moon's Trainer Passport and signed in the permission to handle Pokémon at a higher level. As he showed her the pose for the Z-Move, though, Hau snickered and Gladion officially declared himself traumatised. 

"Moon's strong, huh?" Hau mumbled beside him, his eyes still downcast. It scared Gladion almost as much as Moon's blank slate of a personality. "You're something else too, Hau," he offered quietly. "Growing up in someone's shadow and still trying to stand up to them as an equal..?" Lusamine didn't exactly overshadow him or Lillie-she'd outright trodden on them-but he never really felt he could do anything to measure up to her standard of perfect. Never even tried. "I...I couldn't do it."

He thought about Moon, and how she didn't judge others at all, how her kindness was directed to everyone. Thought about Lillie, who saw the best in everyone, who was so sensitive as to feel the pain of others. He was neither, but he could take the smallest step forward to becoming a better person.

_When you see who a person truly is, to embrace it would be perfection in its finest sense._

"Th-that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me," Hau whispered, almost close to tears. Painfully reminded of Lillie, he tapped the other boy's shoulder reassuringly. "Probably the first and the last time I will. And....," he paused. "We'll...get her back. We have to."

Hau nodded, a determined expression on his face as Moon joined them, and they looked toward the black graffitied speedboat belonging to Team Skull, the bright silver accents glowing in the sunset and reflecting the hidden stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To Game Freak,  
> So you're trying to tell me that this kid trained up for two years and he has only two/three mons when you first meet him and a level 19 Type:Null? I ain't buyin that
> 
> Plus in my opinion, giving Gladion a Midday Lycanroc (like in the manga) instead of Midnight (like in the anime) seems better because of Midday Lycanroc's Dex entry plus being a symbolism of his 'loner' aesthetic.
> 
> All of Glads's mons are symbolic here:  
> Silvally (being artificially created and altered to suit other's tastes/a traumatic past)  
> Crobat (evolves with friendship/his ties to Team Skull)  
> Zoroark (very protective of loved ones/putting up façades or "illusions")  
> Lucario (evolves with friendship/merciless in battle/powerful bonding with Trainer)  
> Midday Lycanroc (will never betray its trainer if raised with TLC/his aloofness)
> 
> he'll be getting porygon later
> 
> P.S. Gladion thought Moon's smile was 'perfect' when he first saw her i'm not sorry >:)
> 
> "Legends had it that some beasts had never gone back but stayed in Alola." *cough* Gluttony *cough*
> 
> Thanks for reading! :))


	8. Aether Infernum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The most magnified troth cannot exist without a smidge of Bane. Was the Greatest Evil once not a dweller of Heav'n?"  
> Spake the boy, who was,  
> At said time, merely seven.
> 
> "Ah, yea, truly, but the opposite as well!  
> Howbeit one looks, they find an oasis b'ween sands n' thatch  
> And a wondrous feather o' Heav'n in every Hell."  
> Spake the Master. "Remember that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: Violence, blood and gore, swearing, poisoning, drug use, and psychological abuse.

"Finally got the message, kid?"

Guzma stood in front of him, towering over the young teen. His Golisopod stood its ground, hissing at Riolu, who was weakened and barely standing. "So this is all you got, brat? No wonder that woman disowned ya."

"I wonder when you figured that out, Boss?" Gladion snarled sarcastically, grinning; imagining Guzma defeated completely, standing in front of her. "When you got clobbered upside the head by Moon?"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" the man yelled. "LIQUIDATION!"

Pulling out a sword made of water, Golisopod lunged forward at an unbelievable speed and slashed Riolu, as he slid roughly along the ground to his Trainer's feet, the latter picking him up and gently cradling him in his arms. "It's okay. Go to sleep."

He looked up at Guzma, who healed up his team and then lumbered towards him. Despite knowing about the man's past trauma and family issues, which were very similar to his, he felt a small dose of sick satisfaction upon seeing the anger in his eyes. "You underestimatin' me? YOU UNDERESTIMATIN' ME?! I know that's not all! You've got that Null thing stuffed in a pocket and not takin' it out! WHAT D'YOU WANNA PROVE, BASTARD?!"

Gladion felt a hard slap across his head as the Team Skull Boss picked him up by the front of his hoodie and his neck and throttled him, the boy's feet lifting off from the ground. "So all that loneliness was for nothing, huh?" the boy croaked softly. "I know I'm a weakling and I'll never truly be able to stand up to Lusamine, but this is...new," he smirked, the pain around his neck only increasing. "Losing to you, Guzma. Something I shouldn't have predicted, since we're both on equal terms. No Z-Ring-" he choked, "No Z-Crystals, no experience with Trials-oh wait, you've done them-"

"So you think....," Guzma's voice narrowed dangerously. "....That I'm.....weak..?"

 _Just like Lusamine_ , Gladion thought. _Whenever their ego was wounded, they took...drastic measures._ "Assume what you want."

"Ya see," Guzma snarled, his face contorting, "My old man was fucked in the head, and he had some reeaal issues. And when things got fuckin' fucked up, like for real, he'd beat some sense into me. And he just ha-happened to _fucking_. _Like_. _Golf_ ** _._ _AND WHAT WAS WRONG WITH HIM?! WHAT WAS WRONG WITH YOU, SON OF A-"_**

The boy felt a hard slap across his face and the hard ground slamming against his rib cage, knocking all the wind out of him, and then a hard kick in his stomach. At this point, he was pretty much used to violence from a few drunkards here and there, so it didn't really hurt much. He shakily stood up, only to get hit once again, staggering back as his tongue tasted cold blood.

A hand suddenly held his and pulled him to his feet, and then he saw a soft, fluttering sky blue top and long black hair, and a jet-black Z-Ring. "Moon," he said hoarsely. "What-"

"Are you alright?" she asked, her voice like iron. "Gladion?" She took out a Great Ball and summoned her Charjabug to fight Guzma, who was still holding his head and screaming at nothing. Immediately paralyzing his Golisopod, she turned her attention onto Gladion, onto the bruises. "No, of course you're not. For now, I'll-"

"I'm fine!" he almost yelled at her, shoving her prying, healing hands away from his arms and standing roughly, his joints screaming in pain. "I'm not the priority here-Lillie is. Defeat Guzma-it shouldn't take you too much time-and go inside the mansion, alright? I'll try to get in. The paralysis's strongest effects should withdraw in a minute or two." He needed to get inside, but with Guzma blocking his way, it was a challenge.

It was almost as if Moon could read his mind. She rained blow after blow on Guzma's team, rendered hapless against her, and once his Masquerain was on the ground, its antennae wet and unable to fly, he bolted past Guzma and kicked the mansion's door open. 

White. Pristine, pure white. 

The tiles and floor glistened with a sense of fake serenity, and Gladion closed his eyes and tried to shut it all out, that nothing could be this pure. When blood dripped from his lips onto the floor, he immediately tried to wipe it off _or she would see and then-_

**FOCUS.**

He trudged onward, taking in the room, the intricately-designed glass and crystal chandelier, the large wooden door with golden and silver swirly patterns and the Aether insignia. And the intrusive aura that was squeezing his gut; something he couldn't see, but feel: Ultra Aura. _It's in there. Cosmog. Lillie-_

He just felt like retching, so he made his way into the bathroom and leaned over the toilet, feeling the rush of bile and the horrible twist in his stomach, but nothing really came out. "Focus, dammit!" he let out a muffled scream. Why was he acting like this? Was it the Ultra Aura? A concussion because Guzma slapped him? What was he doing?! Lillie needed him!

**_But does she really need you?_ **

As he walked past the mirror in the bathroom, he caught a glimpse of Lusamine behind him in his reflection, following him wherever he went.

_**You're her, you know. But a teenage hellion instead of an adult.** _

The door to her room was open, and as he walked toward it, he saw a sudden flash of light and a raised voice-Hau's. When he ran to the doorway, he thought he briefly saw the boy's silhouette and the shimmer of the warp pad, and his heart stopped, praying to Arceus that he hadn't blacked out during the most crucial moments. Apparently, Moon and Hau and hopefully Lillie were still safe down there. 

Taking a deep breath, he walked forward onto the glowing tile.

The room was cold, but bright, and frigid air hissed as it seeped into the chamber. White, once again, dominated the colour scheme and he could clearly see the frozen bodies of Pokémon in the various glass cases around them. The anterior of the floor had walls covered in blue square patterns, and to his horror, he realised that they were also bodies of Pokémon in glass cases, but fitted into the walls and used as decorations.

And she was there. Standing only a few feet away, still in the same golden, bejewelled dress she wore.

"Lusamine."

He didn't intend for it to sound as bitter and brutal as it did, but it drew her attention, and for a split second, she went very white, almost as if seeing a ghost, but then a wide smile extended onto her porcelain features. 

"You're still alive."

_Wait, what? Still alive? So they thought-_

_Of course they thought that. I'd jumped into the middle of the sea._

"Gladion...?"

A trembling whisper came from his left, and he saw Lillie. She looked the same as when he last saw her-dress, hairstyle and all-but her eyes looked so _tired_ and her shoulders slouched forward; they were now shaking as she cried, looking at him. Her eyes widened as she took in the state of him, at his black and ripped attire, at the blood and his expression. "You're okay..? What happened to you.....?!"

He wanted to hold her and wipe away her tears, but he wasn't entirely sure if she would accept it. He'd left her, _alone_ , for two and a half years, leading to her thinking he was _dead_ , and she had been at the mercy of quite possibly the worst person to be stuck with.

**_Look at you. Such a goddamn failure. You made her cry._ **

"Oh, that's obvious," Lusamine said, her heels turning away from him. "The outside world happened to him. And surely now he's regretting every second of it. He knows that I treated him far better than the outside. My, look at the blood! He's messing up the floor."

"You're doing it again."

He surprised even himself with how blunt he was being in the situation.

Usually, he would quail at the sight of his mother, but he just wasn't feeling like it now-probably because of the painkillers he had taken for the wounds and the nausea. "Forcing your opinions on those who couldn't even bring themselves to give a shit about you, Lusamine."

"Oh really?" she asked, a mock innocence in her tone. "That's only because in this scenario, I'm right, Gladion,"

"Don't say my name, Lusamine," he said as smoothly as possible, the crazy part of him now in control. "It's disgusting. You make me sick."

She stepped forward violently, but at the last second, before her heel hit the ground, she retained her composure and simply altered her movements to make it look like she had strode forth, all dignity saved. _It's working_. "At least listen to what we're all trying to say. Letting the Beasts run wild in Alola is a mistake. And more importantly, it won't bring Father back."

"Please, Mother!" Lillie added, her duffel bag now on the floor as she stepped forward a bit. "Please, you know that if too much of Nebby's power is used up, sh-she will die!"

_Since when...had Lillie become so strong?_

She'd always been the timid, quiet girl who would cling onto his shirttail when talking to the employees. And now, she was standing up to _their mother_ , her voice almost rising to a shout, drawing a Heal Ball out in her trembling palm. At her waist, Gladion saw a small, soft pink purse with more PokéBalls inside.

"Listen to you both?!" Lusamine finally snapped. "Listen to my daughter who stole my Cosmog from me, and a _rebellious brat_ who snatched my Type:Null?! Oh, I don't _think_ so! And guess who started it all? **You**!"

She pointed her fingernail at her son's chest. "How about another monthly assessment, Gladion? It'll be the last one, I promise."

**_As if your promises were ever worth anything._ **

"All right, first question: You knew that I would be down here, wouldn't you? Not after the quality time you spent in these walls.."

"That wasn't-"

"The only options are **yes** or **no**!" Lusamine commanded, forcefully slamming her heel onto the floor, her features warped. The room seemingly pulsed behind her, and she held up a twisted cube-shaped machine which glowed a neon blue. "Oh, this?" she said, in that mock-innocent tone again. "This is a machine that draws out Ultra Aura. And you all can guess what's inside it."

A small 'pew' came from the box, and it shook a little at her command, and the room quaked once more. "Let Nebby go!" Hau yelled at her, his face twisted in...anger(?) as he placed a hand on Lillie's shoulder. "You heard her, didn't you?! Nebby will die!"

"Then let it die," Lusamine spat. "Such an annoying Pokémon-it can't even stay silent for two minutes! And you really put up with it all this time, Lillie? I admire your efforts, honestly. It's too bad-"

"Yes."

Lusamine now looked at her son, who stepped forward harshly, using his shoe to spread the drops of blood on the floor. _An act of rebellion_. "I knew you would be here. It's the punishment room, after all. And now, you're punishing Alola. For nothing it has done to you. You'll destroy Father's homeland..."

"He's gone. I. Don't. Care."

"What...?' Gladion trailed off.

Wasn't it his strategy to use her love for Mohn to wheedle some sympathy or reaction out of her? She'd always snapped without fail when he mentioned his father in front of her. But now, she was smiling as she talked about his demise! "He's gone, but he won't be. Not for long."

"What do you mean?" Moon asked carefully, as she and Hau supported Lillie, the latter's eyes downcast onto the floor as she shook like a leaf. Of course; she hadn't seen this side of Lusamine before. Not pushed to this extreme, at least.

"It's none of your business," she replied, abnormally cheerful. "Anyway, how silly of me to have forgotten, Gladion. Your assessment. Question two: You knew that Guzma and the rest of Team Skull were on patrol here?"

"Yes," he growled.

"You knew that I was down here, along with Cosmog, Lillie and those two."

"Yes."

"You knew what I was planning ever since you ran away, but never told a soul."

".....Yes."

"You know about all your internal fears and phobias associated with this place..?" she smiled insanely.

"Refused to acknowledge them."

**_Oh, but you do acknowledge them. No point in lying._ **

_"_ Yes. Or. No **.** You know what the Ultra Beasts and Ultra Aura are capable of?"

"..Yes." 

"And despite all of this.......you still came here...?"

Right then, it was as if Lillie, Moon and Hau weren't there at all. It felt like the old days. Just him and Lusamine, forever in a tiring stalemate.

He nodded, no longer finding it within himself to speak.

"And now for the result in Human Psychology," she clicked her tongue. "What exactly provoked such contradictory behaviour, hm? Why exactly did you do it?" 

_Because I still had hope._

_Because I wanted to protect Lillie properly for once._

_Because I wanted to prove that the person before me was nothing but a bad dream._

**"Because you have a death wish, Gladion Aether."**

_Classic Lusamine,_ Gladion sighed, as he felt himself fall into darkness-

And a million unwanted, destructive thoughts flooded his mind, but even so, he could see, and hear, and smell and taste and feel the drop in the atmosphere. The human brain was great that way, but there was also this extreme numbness that came about the air, and it was difficult to breathe.

The night sky twinkled with billions of stars, but he was drowning in the sea. Like the night he ran away. He pushed heavy saltwater into his lungs, but he couldn't push it out. And....

_Was his body shattering? Like.....glass?_

Each piece fell into the sea, but the currents, being merciful, joined him back together. Mended the joints and structure, but he couldn't put himself back together again. He stayed like that, with definite body shape but no features, just a figure of a nameless human being made out of glass shards, dragging along the shore.

If he didn't exist, maybe things would be different. Lillie would never have to have her emotions exploited by an older sibling. She wouldn't have to experience the pain of thinking that one of her family was dead. Wicke wouldn't have had another child to comfort. Hell, even Lusamine wouldn't have had an extra mouth to feed.

A metallic roar sounded in the distance, and he saw Null, her mask still cracked, cracked in the same way his own body was.

_No, she shouldn't be here, she shouldn't, the mask would-_

*********************

It felt like a massive weight was yanked off of his back; he saw Null's grey mane and heard the clang of metal and he looked up.

Lusamine looked truly, greatly offended, and her face was warped in disgust (as if he'd committed the greatest wrong on Earth), and there was that _horrible, vicious_ Ultra Beast, Nihilego, wrapped around her body like a goddamn garment. "Null, stop," he got out weakly, seeing her bash her head onto the floor, her breathing growing heavy. "The mask. Null, NO, STOP-"

The heavy metal helmet suddenly exploded, and there was this sudden burst of energy like an aftershock, throwing him back a few feet, as pieces of the helmet rained down like debris. "NULL!" he screamed his throat raw, looking at the scene and sure that she was gone, gone forever-

He stopped dead in his tracks. "What.......?"

The grey feathery mass was now shining a bright, iridescent silver, but when it caught the light, it seemed to glow almost in a rainbow-like halo. The green birdlike front legs were now brighter in colour; the tail fin was bigger (how?) and it glowed white and blue. The crest was now fully revealed and the white spikes were now gleaming a bright whitish-rainbow-refracted colour, and the metallic beak and jaw clicked assertively. 

"Beast Killer.."

Nihilego shrieked in pure fear as it hid behind Lusamine, her features warping and distorting further. "The Beast Killer finally awakens. Oh, how life isn't fair, Gladion!" she echoed in the chamber, spreading her arms out as she caressed the Beast reassuringly. "It's awakened just as I changed my mind on keeping it alive! How my invention has succeeded! And it even has a resistance to the venom!" 

"She's not....an invention."

"Whatever you call it. Besides, you seem to have a resistance to it too. Must be the lack of self-preservation instincts." The heel now slammed into the floor and cracked the tile; her eyes turned a sickly glowing amber colour. "You coward! You disrespected your father's legacy! Purposely failed all the assessments I gave you! And you corrupted Lillie as well! You should have stayed at the bottom of the damned sea! It's been a while-hmm, three years!- since I'd introduced the antivenin serum. I'll enjoy experimenting on _you!_ And-oh!"

Guzma entered the vicinity, looking worse for wear. "Madame Prez."

"Finally you come through, Guzma!" she snarled; he winced as she glared him down. "At least you haven't been a complete letdown. Quiet these children and you'll get your money _and_ your destruction."

_Lusamine's clearly the strongest opposition, and maybe Moon holds about the same power. It'd be wise to put them up against each other. Guzma's less of a threat, and he mostly uses Bug-Types, so Hau's team should hold up fine against him. Lillie's a Trainer, but I don't know what her team's like, so it's best to keep her near Hau or someone who can fight beside her. And me...._

_The self-pity can fucking wait._

"I'll stop the Beast. Null was created to fight them!"

He hardly recognised his own voice as he got to his feet, his brain racing at an exhilarating, abnormal speed. Perhaps it was the painkillers?

**_Sorry, guys. I guess for now you're all pieces in a weirdly realistic chess game._ **

"Hau and Lillie, stop Guzma, or at the very least, hold him back! And, Moon-"

She blinked at him, her raven hair and silver eyes streaked with neon blue from the Ultra Aura.

"Stop Lusamine. Or else....Alola will be flooded with Beasts."

The room erupted into chaos.

Moon stepped forward, an indescribable fury in her eyes, and she summoned a Salamence that immediately charged at Lusamine, who countered with Clefable. (Arceus, did her whole team consist of powerhouses?)

Null took on the Beast as it screeched and fought back. She was faster, way faster than she was before, and she seemed to be in a frenzy after losing her shackles. Hau shielded Lillie from any stray attacks as they both went up against Guzma's Pinsir and Vikavolt with Raichu and Lopunny respectively. 

The fighting went on and on and on. The Nihilego seemed to instantly recover from any major injury Null dealt it, and the poison it threw around was making his head spin. The time it had latched onto him before, it had probably poisoned him, which explained what Lusamine said about him resisting the venom. Actually, it wasn't him resisting the poison; it was probably just taking way too long to spread into his system.

And he was feeling more and more dizzy every minute, and wherever he looked now, the image would blur out and burst into black and white splinters.

_Shit._

The Beast suddenly flew back and hid behind the Aether Foundation President's silky sheet of hair as she clutched her hands into fists; they were trembling violently.

"How....how could you be so awful?!" she screeched, as Moon returned her Decidueye. "Enough! I don't _care_ who wants to stop me or not, _it's all a pipe dream!_ The Beasts will do whatever they please in Alola and I will see that it happens!"

She held up the black-and-neon-blue crate which held Cosmog and pushed a button on it, and the Wormhole opened behind her.

_Beautiful._

That was all Gladion could describe it as. The aura pulsed in a variety of colours, and it was so jarring to see _her_ , a golden and white constant, in front of such a vibrant spectacle. The air in the chamber blew wildly as if in a storm, knocking over glass cases.

The Nihilego chirped loudly as it wrapped its tentacles around Lusamine's arms and lifted her gently into the ripple, and she lifted a hand and waved goodbye as her face and body were overlapped by the aura, like she was drowning. Guzma ran in after her, screaming something, but it was drowned out by the high-pitched buzz.

The colours pulsed again and collapsed on themselves like a shrinking whirlpool, converging into a single speck of glowing white energy, radiating power and strangely levitating in the middle of the room.

"It's like a tiny star," Moon whispered.

And then it exploded.

The wave sent them all flying; Gladion in particular felt his head jerked abruptly backward, and for a solid minute, nothing was still. 

His feet felt like numb, stiff logs of wood when he tried to move, his vision was failing, and it was becoming harder to breathe. Null chirped in concern as he leaned on her, trying to stand, but his legs wouldn't let him; he felt like he was going to puke again. _Shit. The poison-_

He let go of Null, who cried out in alarm, and he fell onto the floor, his head pounding as he coughed up red all over the _white_.

Arceus, he was so _done_ with white. Never again.

"Gladion!"

_Lillie._

He felt a pair of arms supporting him as he stood up, and saw a shock of ashy blond hair and emerald eyes, but he couldn't see anything else, and his head was screaming obscenities at him. ".....Here," he croaked.

"What?" she probed gently, although her voice was shaky.

"Let's..get out...o'here. Nothing....good here."

"Okay."

He closed his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i'm still alive yay
> 
> Lusamine being a narcissistic/generally horrible parent is very realistic and I actually commended Game Freak for actually putting something this dark in a Pokémon game (other than the whole N and Ghetsis dynamic, as well as the whole thing with Guzma and his dad). 
> 
> I also appreciate them letting the players decide whether she was just bad from the start or if she became corrupted due to the toxin. In this fic, she's a bit of both: She originally was an authoritarian and (slightly) narcissistic parent, but then it's the toxins, along with the grief from her husband's "death", that really mess her up- now she's ideally described as an extremely dangerous mix of narcissist, tiger parent, and a fine line between Borderline and Antisocial Personality Disorder. (yeah i just made her more irredeemable, sue me.)
> 
> I also really liked the idea of "fleas" from the fic series Conquer The Night by Scribe34 (AMAZING fic series btw, a must-read). It's actually pretty in-character to imagine Gladion giving off a Lusamine-ish vibe while threatening others and being manipulative, and Lillie inheriting her mother's desperate side and slight atelophobia.
> 
> One thing the game could have done better was elaboration on Gladion and Lusamine's relationship, and his sibling dynamic with Lillie.( I actually felt that his character was a bit sidelined throughout the whole thing.) So the lack of Lillie-Lusamine interaction in this chapter would ideally be saved for her confrontation with her in Ultra Space, which is where it really counts as it really shows her growth as a person, and it also explains Gladion's role in the equation and his growth as well.
> 
> Plus i made this a mother-son moment, like the confrontation in Ultra Space is a mother-daughter moment. It kinda balances the whole thing out.
> 
> i'm sorry for making this so long  
> TL;DR: Lillie and Gladion deserve the world, and Lusamine can rot in hell.


	9. Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I know that I'm n-not normal, or perfectly sane, but I'm not. I'm not Lusamine. I don't want to be."

He saw himself sitting on a lake. Flat out _sitting_ on the water, which reflected the clear blue sky.

"Been long?"

"What is going on," he replied flatly, staring at his doppelgänger, who moved to a crouched posture, sitting on his heels. They looked the same, except the other guy was dressed in a loose, off-white formal shirt and worn navy jeans. "Nothing. We're stuck here and you're way overdue for your appointment."

"Appointment?"

"With reality, obviously."

"So I've been...knocked out this whole time...?"

"Well?"

".........."

"I'm probably in a hospital right now, aren't I?" he sighed.

"Yup."

"Hopefully not in Aether."

"I don't know. I'm you, remember? I can't see if you can't open your eyes."

"Why are we having this conversation?"

"Oh, so you finally said 'we'," the other guy blinked, combing a hand through his hair.

"So....I'm not supposed to call us 'we'...?"

"Of course not. It means you're dissociating. Not a great sign."

"Dissociating?" _That doesn't sound right._

"Yeah. I'm supposed to be this... _other_ you. The one that had a slightly better life."

"....I'll just...get going, then. You said I had an appointment again?"

"Reality. It's that way." 

The other boy pointed to the bottom of the lake. "Don't worry. It won't be cold if you don't want it to be. We're in your head, remember?"

He wordlessly leapt inside, swimming to the bottom.

He had a feeling reality would be cold, regardless of what he wanted.

**************************************************

Ironically, he was greeted by white as soon as he opened his eyes. 

_Again? Really?_

He couldn't stand up, feeling sore and nauseous, and white was all he could observe in his surroundings. It was burning into his vision and it made his head hurt. He looked around, seeing that he was in a hospital of some kind-the whole place smelled of bleach and disinfectant.

His body felt numb.

Wait, wasn't that strange?

He had a reasonably thick blanket draped over him, and he realised that he also had a wet cloth (soaked in _hot_ water?) on his forehead. And yet...he felt as if he'd been lying on a sheet of ice. The oxygen mask he was wearing made his mouth and cheeks feel a little cold, but the rest of his body? Absolute zero. He couldn't move at all, let alone think properly. 

Then the memories hit him.

The poison. The blood. Nihilego. The Ultra Wormhole. Null actually _evolving_.

_"...the venom hasn't drained fully out of his system yet-"_

_"....yes, rehabilitation sounds best-"_

_"Are you sure it's anaphylaxis?"_

_"Yes....we'll interrogate him about it later when he's conscious."_

"OH, HELL-"

He heard the sound of a chair falling down and a pained yelp from his left, but he was too tired to move, which was irrational-he had been resting for...how long? Anyway, the chair squeaked again protestingly as he heard the voice speak again.

"So. Um, hey. Are you, like, actually awake, 'cause-"

Recognition came too late. "Hau."

Even if he hadn't been wearing the oxygen mask, his voice probably sounded the most broken he had ever heard it, because the other boy became dead silent. For a while, he focused on moving, slowly clenching and unclenching his fingers, feeling the IV connected to his wrist, moving his head slightly to the side to see Hau's face, mouth in a grim line. Even though he had a dark complexion, his face was clearly paler.

"What. Happened," he rasped, coughing. "Feel nauseous."

 _Incorrect. It's "I'm feeling nauseous."_ he heard Lusamine correct him in his head.

_Shut up already._

"Hau...?"

"It's been three months."

He leapt out of bed, ripping the IVs out and the mask off, the heart monitor blaring as he sat up violently and glared at the other boy, who was now standing up in fright.

"Three?!" he screeched incoherently. "C-calm down, Gladion!" Hau tried, waving his arms as he backed up a bit. "They said for you not to get too aggravated, otherwise the aftereffects of the venom might double o-or something like that.."

"Venom-?!"

"From the Nihilego. The one that attacked you in Aether."

"I-I know that!" he countered. "B-but why? What happened after that? To Lillie? She's okay, right?! And Moon? They're fine, right?"

"Um, yeah," Hau blinked. "They're fine. Oh and you probably want...to know what happened while you were...knocked out."

"Lusamine," Gladion snarled, remembering their _chat_. "Remind me to kill her once she crawls out of the Wormhole again."

"I don't have to. She's here. In the next ward."

_Oh._

**_Oh._ **

"What?"

"Gah, I'm such a jerk!" Hau hissed, clapping his hands over his mouth, quickly changing the topic. "S-so, after the whole thing happened, you, uh, kinda collapsed?" he winced, "And your eyes turned into this freaky purple colour. You fainted, but your eyes, were, uh, still wide open and just....purple. And you were coughing too, and blood was coming out of your mouth..."

Gladion paled, slowly lifting a nearby paper cup to drink some water. His hand was trembling violently. "It was...the venom."

"Lillie looked like she was going to faint," he whispered. "She just...broke down. Moon's Bewear had to carry you out of the pla-Arceus, are you okay?"

"Fine!" Gladion got out, choking on the water. "Moon's _what_?! A _Bewear_ carried me?!"

"Not many options that time," the Alolan replied, looking somehow embarrassed and grave at the same time. "But Moon's stronger. Trust me. There's a reason that Bewear's so well-trained. I don't even think Gramps's is as obedient as hers."

"Okay, can we just talk about what happened?"

"Yeah. Um. Sorry. So Miss Wicke got you admitted into one of the hospital wards in Aether, and she tried ringing up one of her old friends or something to help in your treatment after a few weeks. Apparently, you stayed in the ICU for around seventeen days before your condition fully stabilised."

"I could hear some people talking about it. While I was asleep."

"Really? So that 'hearing things when you're in a coma' thing was true?"

"They said I needed rehab. It was....anaphylaxis...? But how-"

"What does that mean? You're right, those people mentioned it. And I couldn't get in touch with Moon that time, so I never got to know what it was."

The blond boy sighed. Hau was a bit ignorant at times, and a bit too happy-go-lucky, but he wasn't stupid.

"Hau. What happens when a person first gets stung by an Ariados?"

The other boy tapped his lips with his finger, brows creased. "....It depends. Nothing but the usual, for most people. But if a person's very unlucky, then they'll develop an allergy to the sting. And the next time they're stung, and they don't get proper aid, then they......." 

He trailed off, and then paused. "That's what it is, isn't it?"

Gladion put the paper cup down, and nodded. "I don't know how. How I got such a severe aversion to Nihilego venom. My best guess is that I've already been infected once when I was younger.."

"Wait, Lusamine can't be that h-"

"She can," Gladion clenched his fist.

His head felt like it was going to shatter. "My stomach hurts," he coughed, as he grabbed the sheets for balance and felt the world around him sway in a hypnotic dance now that the adrenaline was out of his system. 

Stumbling to a nearby basin, he vomited out all the liquid toxin in his body, and he noticed most of it was either a sick shade of purple or thick crimson blood. The room swayed, along with the white light-too bright- and his body gave way and slumped to the floor.

_You have a death wish, Gladion Aether. Then why don't you just up and die right now?_

Threads of poison levitated before him and formed the shape of the Ultra Beast's body as it wrapped two tentacles around his throat and violently slammed him down onto the tiles, again and again and Lusamine's laugh echoed everywhere 

**_Everywhere-_ **

A pair of arms looped under his shoulders and pulled him up hard; he saw a familiar face and green hair pulled into a spiky ponytail.

"Hau, what are you doing here?"

******************************************************

"Is this really necessary?"

"We would prefer if you minimized the complaints, Master Gladion. After all, we are doing this for your own good."

Colress withdrew the needle, gaining an ample supply of blood from the lymph node. Walking over to the bench, he emptied its contents into a round flask and set the syringe aside.

 _"For his own good.." Right. More like for research purposes._ He just felt like a guinea pig in this overly white room.

"When will the reaction test results come out?" he slurred, flexing his fingers. _Arceus, where was Lillie?_ He sat up slowly, running his nails over his arms; an inherited habit from the venom. "Grimsley said that you and Miss Wicke were working on it."

The Unovan scientist tapped his chin. "Did he really say that? Well, actually, it would take about three days to fully analyze. After all, Symbiont is an Ultra Beast. Any compounds it produces are far too complex to be decoded so quickly."

"That, and I was messing with you."

A new voice came from the doorframe, the source being a worn, pale man with black hair wearing a white Kantonian yukata and a black scarf, a Liepard purring contentedly by his side. "The Battle Tree got boring after a bit. Admittedly, getting beaten at least thrice in a row by the same person chafes your morale a bit. The winners take all, and there's nothing left for the loser."

"Ah, speak of Giratina," Colress said airily, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Alolan Champion giving you trouble?"

"Who else?" the Dark-type trainer sighed. "Actually, it's her, _and_ Cynthia, _and_ Red, _and_ Blue, and-"

"Do not mind his rambling," Colress said to the confused boy. "He's merely, er, venting. When you specialize in Psychic, Ghost, Dark, or Fairy types, the aura that your partners emit does affect you to a certain extent. Some trainers even can understand and feel their emotions. In this case, Grimsley launched into a bad mood when he saw you because of Drapion's influence."

Gladion realised that he had been silent for a bit too long. "Wait, but I didn't-"

"You did not harm Drapion in any way. It's just that he doesn't enjoy using moves or poison on people, especially young children. Even if it was for a small toxin reaction test, he was a bit miffed by the thought of having to sting you. I do admit that you have trained him well, Grimsley. Right upto his full potential!"

"Wait, how do you know about the whole aura thing? Aren't you a Steel fan?" Grimsley laughed, sitting on a nearby stool and playfully flipping an old golden coin. "By the way, right on the money. As much as the old me would hate to say this, when it comes to knowledge, there's very little reliance on chance. No fun. I'm the kind of person who likes hard chances that I might lose."

"So.." Gladion pieced the puzzle together. "You used Drapion's venom because of its type, didn't you?"

"Of course. How did you figure out? Have you learned Typing Studies, Composition and Functions?" Colress asked. The Dark user in the background buried his face in his palms, clearly confused by all the technical talk.

"Yeah. Lu- _Mother-_ made me study that subject in a lot of detail when she was preparing for me to become the next Aether President. And the occasional lapses in my memory because of the venom hasn't exactly dulled my previous knowledge."

"Fascinating," the blond man stated. The black-haired man sitting near the wall looked Gladion dead in the eye; so did his Liepard. "Hey, I never got to ask, but......You okay? After all that?"

"What?" Gladion blurted out, but a few seconds later, he realised what Grimsley was talking about.

"I...I don't know. It's been three years. Almost four, since I, uh, ran away. But I can say that life was actually worse outside than in Aether-at Aether, I didn't starve-but the thing is, at least there was nobody _pushing_ me into anything for a while after I left. So it was better, in that aspect. There's a lot of instances where...either life was better than the other...I can't. Can't.....decide."

He took in a deep breath, recalling every single nightmare he had ever since he had been infected. Strangely, it wasn't painful so much as it was plain numb.

The venom's neurotoxins also had this apparent desensitizing effect on one's emotions, similar to drugs, and he was aware that he would probably never feel again. At least from a heartfelt perspective. Not for a long time. "I know she's here too. But I just..don't. I don't want to visit her. Because I'm scared. I'm scared that she'll stick needles in me or yell at me or-"

"Deep breaths," Colress reminded him, gently holding his shoulder. "In through your nose and out through your mouth." 

"No, let him finish," Grimsley grimaced, his Liepard looking troubled, obviously sensing the trouble the boy was feeling inside. "He needs to get this off his chest."

Gladion continued, "Sometimes-only sometimes, okay?-I feel like.... _killing_ her. Killing Lusamine, or doing _something_. Like...I've imagined just pushing her down the stairs whenever she yelled at me or punished me. I know it sounds insane and you might assume that I'm unstable o-or something. But I also know that she's a monster, and I don't want to become that."

He gasped deeply, putting his head in his hands. "I know that I'm not-not _normal_ , or perfectly _sane_ , but I'm not. I'm not _Lusamine._ I don't want to be."

"Kid, you should get some rest," the Dark-type Trainer said smoothly, patting him on his back. "Miss Wicke and your sister might be away for a bit longer regarding Solgaleo's recovery and Necrozma, but they'll be back in a few hours. We'll also administer you some calming pills after your daily meds if you want."

"Thanks" should have been what he said. Instead, what came out was "What flavour?"

"What flavour," Colress and Grimsley burst out laughing. "There's only Nomel and Kelpsy Berry. Choose," the scientist offered.

"Nomel flavoured calming pills? Arceus hates us."

The three Trainers in the room laughed heartily, momentarily quelling the dour air.

However, the mauve-haired lady standing at the door was only noticed by Colress, who immediately dropped his smile and narrowed his eyes. _That topic can be moved onto later._

She pursed her lips, nodded and left quietly.

****************************************************************

He woke up to feel a hand holding his own.

"Lillie?" he murmured, silently squeezing back. Apparently, both her and Moon had visited him quite a few times, along with Hau, but due to the toxins' effects, his memories on those times were skewed beyond belief and therefore inaccessible. At this point, he was used to it. "What time is it?"

She pushed a few strands of hair behind her ear. "Around 5 p.m. I got you some granola bars in case you were hungry."

"Thanks," he whispered, sitting up and accepting the food. It was dark chocolate and raspberry flavoured, and he immediately took a liking to it. It was much better than instant ramen or one too many PokeBeans. Looking around, his Pokemon were still asleep. "So you're a Trainer now?"

Lillie winced, and he took that as a sign that she had already told him, but he had forgotten yet again. "I'm sorry, that was-"

"Mother's worse," she replied quietly, a few tears shining in her eyes. "She hardly remembers what I told her in Ultra Space all those months ago. And sometimes, she acts very nice one second, and the next, she's like....like before."

"Gladion, if you're going to apologise, you don't need to. Back then, you were actually going to take me along with you, but I was the one who declined. It's not your fault that I stayed behind with her." She was looking at him with so much exhaustion and pity and love and it made his heart bleed.

Her brother was nearly driven to tears. "How many times have I said that?" His voice broke, not wanting to hear the answer. "How many times have you heard an apology from me that I don't even remember?"

Lillie held herself, her delicate frame shaking. "Too many times to count, Gladi," she cried out before embracing him, weeping tears worth all the apologies he wished he could have said to her. 

He wasn't sure he could remember all of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm late again, aren't I?  
> Sorry for the delay, i guess that was just a tiny writing slump and some research. 
> 
> Guess how Gladion got infected by Nihilego toxin so early in his life? Tip: It had absolutely nothing to do with Lusamine. Okay yeah i know it did  
> Also Grimsley is actually trying really hard not to swear in front of Gladion but my dude has no idea bout the shit the poor kid's seen in Team Skull, swearing really is nothing.  
> The Nomel flavoured pills is based on a real-life experience where I ate a bunch of horrible-tasting vitamin supplements disguised as innocent fruit-flavoured gummy bears.
> 
> All in all, I'm not really too satisfied with this chapter; I admit I wasn't in a great mental state when I wrote this so I'm sorry if you feel this was a bit rushed. (I might rewrite it later.)
> 
> And what's coming after? real shit  
> That's all im gonna spoil have a great day guys

**Author's Note:**

> i can always picture gladion with a cool-but-edgy aesthetic palette of black, gold (hence the title), green and silver (yes, that was only partially intentional).  
> plus i hc silvally as a girl who's with me
> 
> "oh heck the plot of The Secret Garden kins the story of aether" - me at 3am
> 
> This is my first fic on ao3, please let me know how you feel in the comments below!  
> Thanks for reading:))


End file.
